Outpatient Adolescent Treatment for Comorbid Substance Use and Internalizing Disorders

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Adolescent substance abuse results in significant negative outcomes and extraordinary costs for youths, their families, communities, and society. Moreover, rates of psychiatric comorbidity among substance abusing youth range from 25% up to 82%, and youths with a dual diagnosis have worse outcomes and are more than twice as costly to treat than their counterparts with no comorbidity. This project was a pilot test of a new treatment, OPTION-A, which was adapted from Multisystemic Therapist (MST) and other evidence-based interventions to specifically treat youth presenting for outpatient treatment of comorbid substance use and internalizing disorders. The project was a randomized controlled pilot trial comparing the experimental treatment to usual services in the community.

Detailed Description
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Adolescent substance abuse results in significant negative outcomes and extraordinary costs for youths, their families, communities, and society. Moreover, rates of psychiatric comorbidity among substance abusing youth are high and youths with a dual diagnosis are more costly to treat. At the time of this study, however, no outpatient treatments had been tested specifically for treating youth with co-occurring substance use disorders and mental health diagnoses. The current project aimed to adapt and evaluate Multisystemic Therapy (MST), a well validated treatment for chronic behavioral problems or serious emotional disturbance in adolescents, to treat dually diagnosed youth using an outpatient model of service delivery. A pilot trial was conducted with 40 dually diagnosed youth randomly assigned to treatment conditions, with 20 receiving the experimental treatment (OPTION-A) and 20 receiving usual outpatient services. Specific aims were: Specific Aim 1: The primary aim of the present research was to adapt and test OPTION-A for use in outpatient settings to treat youth diagnosed with a substance use disorder and comorbid internalizing disorder. We hypothesized that youth receiving OPTION-A would exhibit significantly less drug use (e.g., youth self-reports and urine screens) than control youth who received usual services, and that youth receiving OPTION-A would exhibit significant improvement on indices of mental health (e.g., combined youth and caregiver reports on diagnostic interviews and youth, caregiver, and teacher reports of internalizing symptoms) compared to control youth Specific Aim 2: In addition to improved symptomatology, the current research aimed to test the effectiveness of OPTION-A to improve youth functioning in other domains pertinent to successful adolescent development. We hypothesized that youth receiving OPTION-A would evidence improved behavioral (e.g., youth, caregiver, and teacher reports of externalizing), school (e.g., school attendance), and family functioning (e.g., youth and caregiver reports of family adaptability and cohesion) compared to control youth who received usual services. Specific Aim 3: The final aim of the proposed research was to provide services that are more acceptable to consumers than are usual services provided in the community. We hypothesized that youth and families receiving OPTION-A would experience significantly greater consumer satisfaction than control youth and families who received usual services.

Official Title
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Development of Outpatient MST for Dually Diagnosed Youth

Conditions
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Substance-Related Disorders, Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Outpatient MST/OPTION-A
* Behavioral: Usual Services


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Presentation for outpatient treatment 12 to 17 years of age Youth residing with at least one adult caregiver who serves as a parent figure Substance Abuse or Dependence Disorder Axis I Internalizing Disorder (Mood Disorder or Anxiety Disorder), based on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV; Shaffer, Fisher, Lucas, Dulcan, & Schwab-Stone, 2000) Exclusion Criteria: Pervasive Developmental Disorder Psychotic Disorder Severe or profound mental retardation (IQ of 45 or below) Families previously receiving Multisystemic Therapy

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 12 Years
Maximum Age: 17 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: Factorial Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Intervention/Treatment |
| --- |
|Behavioral: Outpatient MST/OPTION-A|nan|
|Behavioral: Usual Services|nan|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Urine Drug Screen at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks |  |  | 
| Score on Depression/Anxiety Scale (RCADS) at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 24 weeks |  |  | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Measured at Intake, 3 Months, and 6 Months |  |  | 
| Global assessment of symptoms |  |  | 
| Parenting |  |  | 
| School |  |  | 
| Behavioral |  |  | 
| Family relationship/communication/problem solving |  |  | 
| Consumer satisfaction |  |  | 
| Daily Drug/Alcohol use |  |  | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Substance-Related Disorders, Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Adolescent, Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, Outpatients, Family Relations, Systems Theory