This proposed study tests the effectiveness and examines the implementation of screening and brief intervention techniques to delay initiation and reduce substance use among adolescents accessing medical care in Federally Qualified Health Care settings with a computer-facilitated intervention. The primary hypothesis is that participants in the intervention groups will be more likely to cease or reduce substance use at follow-up compared to clients in the treatment as usual condition.
The aims of the proposed 5-year study are threefold: (1) To examine the effectiveness of a computer-facilitated Screening and Brief Advice (cSBA) to reduce initiation and substance abuse among adolescents in a novel setting; (2) To examine the comparative effectiveness of adding a Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment component to the cSBA intervention among adolescents in these centers; (3) To examine factors facilitating and inhibiting the implementation of SBIRT-type procedures with adolescents in FQHCs.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
The computer-facilitated screening and brief advice (cSBA) intervention is a self-administered, computer-facilitated screening that asks about lifetime and past-12-month use of substances followed by scientific information about how substance use affects health and true-life stories illustrating the health risks of substance use. The cSBA program prints out a Report Form with the screening results, risk level, and "talking points" designed to prompt a 2 to 3-minute provider/teen conversation about the health effects of substance use, which recommends abstinence.
The cSBA+ intervention contains cSBA intervention elements plus the delivery of a brief, two-session motivational enhancement therapy (MET) intervention to be delivered a Behavioral Health Counselor (BHC) at the clinic immediately after meeting with the primary care provider. In the first session of this intervention, youth should be encouraged to think about: (1) The role alcohol and drugs play in his/her life; (2) His/her personal goals for changing alcohol and drug use; (3) Strategies for reaching and maintaining goals. The goal at the end of the session is positive movement in the direction of abstinence or change. The aim of the second session is reinforcement of goals set forth in the prior meeting with the BHC.
Treatment Research Institute
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Reduced substance use
Time frame: 3 and 12 months
Initiation of substance use
Time frame: 3 and 12 Months
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