Brief Intervention for Families of Teens Treated in the Emergency Department for an Alcohol-Related Event
Condition: Alcohol Abuse
MeSH terms: Alcoholism
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 1

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of a brief family intervention in
      reducing alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among families of underage drinkers (13-17
      years old) who are treated in a hospital emergency department for an alcohol-related event.
    

Detailed description: 
      The long-term objectives of this research program are to develop effective interventions in
      health care settings for reducing problem drinking and associated problems among adolescents
      and to further enhance intervention approaches by identifying effective elements of
      treatment. The major purpose of this study is to compare a brief integrated individual and
      family intervention designed to reduce alcohol use and related problems to an enhanced
      standard care condition (standard care plus family assessment).

      The targeted population is underage drinkers (13-17 years old) who have been treated in an
      Emergency Department following an alcohol-related event. It is important to intervene with
      this population because alcohol-involved adolescents may be at higher risk for having
      continuing alcohol problems (Fillmore, 1988; Zucker, in press). The intervention is
      conceptualized as using a "teachable moment" (i.e., shortly after a salient event) to
      increase family interest in reducing harmful drinking. The experimental intervention
      integrates an individual Motivational Interview (MI) for the adolescent, based on our
      research group's prior work with this intervention, with a brief family intervention, the
      Family Check-Up (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003).

      The experimental condition will be compared to standard care plus family assessment. This
      design allows us to test the added benefit of the brief family intervention compared to the
      benefits often derived from assessment without added treatment. Follow-up interviews will be
      conducted at 3, 6, and 12 months after the baseline intervention to assess outcome. The
      specific aims of this proposal are to test the effectiveness of the experimental intervention
      in reducing alcohol-related problems, alcohol consumption, and other behavior problems
      compared to the enhanced standard care condition. Second, we will examine whether depressed
      mood and behavior problems at baseline moderate the effects of the treatment conditions. We
      will also test whether individual factors (motivation to change behavior) and environmental
      factors (parent/family influence and peer influence) mediate the relation between the
      treatment condition and outcomes.
    

Intervention name(s): MI/Family Check-up; MI only
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The experimental intervention integrates an individual Motivational Interview (MI) for the adolescent with a brief family intervention, the Family Check-Up. Follow-up interviews will be conducted at 3, 6, and 12 months after the baseline intervention.; An individual motivational interview (IMI only) will be conducted at 3, 6, and 12 months after the baseline intervention to assess outcome.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Alcohol; Substance abuse; Adolescent; Family functioning