Individual and Family Motivational Interviews for Substance Using Truant Teens

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This application will provide a test of one potential model for adding substance use assessment and brief intervention into a truancy court program. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether a motivational intervention will reduce substance use among adolescents referred to truancy court for school attendance problems. In this treatment development application, an open trial with 20 families referred by truancy court will first be conducted. This trial will be used to adapt an existing motivational intervention to include material relevant to school attendance and performance. Then 100 families participating in the Rhode Island Truancy Court Program with adolescents between the ages of 13-16 years who report using substances will be randomly assigned to receive the experimental intervention plus standard truancy court procedures or psychoeducation plus standard truancy court procedures. The 2-session intervention protocol consists of an individual motivational interview plus the Family Check-Up (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003), a family based motivational interview. The experimental protocol provides a thorough assessment of both individual and family strengths and weaknesses with respect to substance use prevention and school attendance/performance. Follow-up interviews will be conducted at 3 and 6 months.

Official Title
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Individual and Family Motivational Interviews for Substance Using Truant Teens

Conditions
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Substance Use, Risky Sexual Behavior

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Family Check-up/ Individual MI
* Behavioral: Individual and family psychoeducation


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: between the ages of 13-16 at the start of the project and living at home with at least one parent/guardian, t- score of 70 or above on one of the diagnostic-oriented scales (internalizing or externalizing problems) on the Child Behavior Checklist (i.e. reach the clinical cut-off), the child must report 6 or more incidences of substance use in the last 90 days, parental consent and child assent are obtained. Exclusion Criteria: adolescent meets diagnostic criteria for substance dependence suggesting need for more intensive services, the family is not able to speak and understand English or Spanish well enough to complete study procedures.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 13 Years
Maximum Age: 16 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Family Check-up/Individual MI<br>Two session motivational intervention to improve parent monitoring and communication with respect to adolescent risk behavior especially substance use plus 2 session Individual Motivational Intervention for the adolescent | Behavioral: Family Check-up/ Individual MI<br>* The 2-session intervention protocol consists of an individual motivational interview plus the Family Check-Up (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003), a family based motivational interview. The experimental protocol provides a thorough assessment of both individual and family strengths and weaknesses with respect to substance use prevention and school attendance/performance.<br>* Other names: (Family Check-up);|
| Active Comparator: Psychoeducation<br>Two sessions of psychoeducation for parents regarding adolescent risk behaviors especially substance use | Behavioral: Individual and family psychoeducation<br>* Families in PE will return for the same number of visits as the IMI and FCU sessions of the IMI/FCU condition. An interventionist will review a set of educational materials with the parents regarding teen SU use, truancy and risk behaviors and parenting a teenager. A similar set of materials will be reviewed with the adolescent<br>* Other names: (Psychoed);|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| marijuana use | Self-report of marijuana use in the prior 30 days | 3 month follow-up | 
| marijuana use | Self-report of marijuana use in the prior 30 days | 6 month follow-up | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Risky sexual behavior | Self-report of risky sexual behavior such as unprotected sex | 3 month follow-up | 
| Risky sexual behavior | Self-report of risky sexual behavior such as unprotected sex | 6 month follow-up | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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substance use, adolescents, intervention, truancy, sexual risk behavior