Clinical trial NCT00612482: Youth Substance Use Prevention/Reduction Through Science-based Drug Abuse Education
Official title: Youth Substance Use Prevention/Reduction Through Science-based Drug Abuse Education: A High School Pilot Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE1
Conditions: Substance Abuse
Keywords: Substance abuse
Lead sponsor: Boston Children's Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Boston Public Schools
First posted: 2008-02-11
Enrollment: 225
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 14
Maximum age (years): 19
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL

Brief summary: Our primary goal is to conduct a pilot study of the effects of a new potential strategy for youth substance abuse prevention - science-based drug education integrated into the high school science curriculum. Through this pilot study we propose to: (1) demonstrate that this new strategy shows promise, and (2) estimate the effect size for the intervention.

Detailed description: NIDA, in recent years, has put resources into summarizing and synthesizing cutting-edge medical and basic science research discoveries about the short-term and long-term effects of drug use on the developing brain. One outcome of this results was the production of a science-based drug education program entitled "The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology Through the Study of Addiction." This is a 5-lesson module for high school science classes that teaches about brain structure and function, how drugs affect and change the biology and chemistry of the brain, how addiction occurs in the brain, and that addiction is a chronic, recurring disease. However, the effect of receipt of this program on students' substance use knowledge, attitudes, perceived risk of harm, and behavior has not been systematically evaluated to date.

The specific aims of this project are:

1. To evaluate the effects of receipt of the curriculum on specific cognitive contributors to substance use including a)students' knowledge about the short- and long-term effects of substance use on the brain; b)perceived risk of harm from substance use; and c)intention to use substances in the next 3 months.
2. To evaluate the effects of the intervention on actual substance use behavior. We hypothesize that the effectiveness of this approach may be modified by the students' level of prior and current substance use, with the effect being stronger among those who have not already initiated use, or among those who have very low use. Therefore, we will specifically examine whether the intervention a)prevents substance use initiation among students who had no previous use, b)stops use among students with low lifetime use, and c) reduces use among those with higher levels of use.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Student in 9th/10th/11th grade science classes at Fenway High School at start of study or student in 11th grade science classes at Boston Arts Academy at start of study
* Parental permission to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

* No parental permission to participate
* Unable to read English

Primary outcomes:
measure: Lifetime, past 6 month and past 30 day use of substances
timeFrame: Pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, 6-7 month post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Frequency and quantity of substance use
timeFrame: Pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, 6-7 months post-intervention
measure: Knowledge about effects of substance use on the brain
timeFrame: Pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, 6-7 months post-intervention
measure: Perceived risk of harm of substance use
timeFrame: Pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, 6-7 months post-intervention
measure: Intention to use substances in the next 3 months
timeFrame: Pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, 6-7 months post-intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Children's Hospital Boston
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital
name: Sion Kim Harris, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: