Clinical trial NCT03655574: Substance Use Interventions for Truant Adolescents
Official title: Brief Individual and Parent Interventions for Substance Use in Truant Adolescents
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Adolescent Problem Behavior
Truancy; Unsocialized
Marijuana Abuse
Truancy; Socialized
Substance Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Keywords: Brief intervention
Behavioral intervention
Juvenile justice
Motivational enhancement
Lead sponsor: Brown University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
First posted: 2018-08-31
Enrollment: 110
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 18
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Two-arm randomized controlled trial
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This study evaluates a brief motivation-building intervention for parents and teens to reduce truancy and substance use. It is hypothesized that the motivational intervention will result in better outcomes compared to an education-only intervention.

Detailed description: Adolescents who use marijuana and are truant from school are a high-risk population with increased likelihood of substance use disorders, criminal justice involvement, and long-term impairments in vocational, family, and peer domains.

This study will test a theory-driven intervention for early adolescent marijuana using, truant youth identified through Rhode Island Truancy and Family Courts. Adolescents will be randomly assigned to one of the 2 conditions: a motivational interview versus psychoeducation.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* the target child is in 6th-10th grade at the start of the project and living at home with at least one parent/guardian,
* the teen must report 6 or more incidences of marijuana use in the last 90 days (an approximation of biweekly use)
* by law, the teen must have at least 20 unexcused absences in an academic year to be in truancy court, and (4) parental consent and teen assent are obtained.

Exclusion Criteria:

* the family is not able to speak and understand English or Spanish well enough to complete study procedures
* developmental delay, as determined by school placements outside the regular classroom, that would affect comprehension of the intervention.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Frequency of Marijuana Use
timeFrame: Last 90 days at baseline, and 3, 6, and 12 months
measure: Change in Quantity of Marijuana Use per Occasion of Use
timeFrame: Last 90 days at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Days truant from school
timeFrame: Last 90 days at baseline, and 3, 6, and 12 months
measure: Change in Days truant from school, self-report
timeFrame: Last 90 days at baseline, and 3, 6, and 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Providence
country: United States
facility: Rhode Island Family Court
state: Rhode Island
city: Providence
country: United States
facility: Brown Univerity
state: Rhode Island
Study officials:
affiliation: Brown University
name: Anthony Spirito, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: