Substance Use Prevention in Teen Psychiatric Patients

NCT ID: NCT01170013

Last Updated: 2012-07-31

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE1
• Total Enrollment: 68 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2008-08-31
• Study Completion Date: 2011-12-31

Brief Summary

The earlier a child initiates alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, the greater the risk of long-range problems. This association persists despite changes in national substance use rates over time, indicating its stability and viability as a target for prevention. At the same time, parent monitoring of youth behavior tends to decrease during the adolescent years, creating a source of risk for not only the early onset of AOD use but also escalation. Thus, programs are needed in parenting behaviors and family relationships that are protective in helping pre-adolescent youth to avoid initiation of AOD use and abuse. This is particularly true of children with psychiatric disorders who are at higher risk for developing AOD disorders than nonpsychiatrically disturbed children. The primary goal of this study is to test the effectiveness of a family-centered intervention to reduce the risk of AOD use among pre-adolescent children with a history of emotional/behavioral problems. In this application, the families of 80 youths aged 12-14 years, who have not yet begun AOD use but have been referred for mental health care due to psychiatric symptomatology, will be randomly assigned to receive either an individually tailored family program or standard care. The experimental intervention, which is based on the Family Check-Up model (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003), provides a thorough assessment of family strengths and weaknesses as they relate to future risk for AOD use as well as emotional/behavioral problems, and utilizes principles of motivational interviewing to encourage families to change. Follow-up interviews will be conducted at 6 and 12 months after baseline to assess changes in parenting, AOD use, and other risky behaviors.

Detailed Description

The earlier a child initiates alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, the greater the risk of long-range problems. This association persists despite changes in national substance use rates over time, indicating its stability and viability as a target for prevention. At the same time, parent monitoring of youth behavior tends to decrease during the adolescent years, creating a source of risk for not only the early onset of AOD use but also escalation. Thus, programs are needed in parenting behaviors and family relationships that are protective in helping pre-adolescent youth to avoid initiation of AOD use and abuse. This is particularly true of children with psychiatric disorders who are at higher risk for developing AOD disorders than nonpsychiatrically disturbed children. The primary goal of this study is to test the effectiveness of a family-centered intervention to reduce the risk of AOD use among pre-adolescent children with a history of emotional/behavioral problems. In this application, the families of 80 youths aged 12-14 years, who have not yet begun AOD use but have been referred for mental health care due to psychiatric symptomatology, will be randomly assigned to receive either an individually tailored family program or standard care. The experimental intervention, which is based on the Family Check-Up model (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003), provides a thorough assessment of family strengths and weaknesses as they relate to future risk for AOD use as well as emotional/behavioral problems, and utilizes principles of motivational interviewing to encourage families to change. Follow-up interviews will be conducted at 6 and 12 months after baseline to assess changes in parenting, AOD use, and other risky behaviors.

Conditions

Adolescent Substance Use

Keywords

substance use; adolescents; initiation

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Family Check-up

Two session motivational intervention to improve parent monitoring and communication with respect to adolescent risk behavior especially substance use

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Family Check-up

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Two session motivational intervention to improve parent monitoring and communication with respect to adolescent risk behavior especially substance use

Psychoeducation

Two sessions of psychoeducation for parents regarding adolescent risk behaviors especially substance use

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Parent psychoeducation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Two sessions of psychoeducation for parents regarding adolescent risk behaviors. especially substance use

Interventions

Family Check-up

Two session motivational intervention to improve parent monitoring and communication with respect to adolescent risk behavior especially substance use

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Parent psychoeducation

Two sessions of psychoeducation for parents regarding adolescent risk behaviors. especially substance use

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Parent Motivational Interviewing; Family psychoeducation

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. the target child is between the ages of 12-14 years old at the start of the project and living at home with at least one parent/guardian

2. the target child must be receiving services at a mental health clinic and must screen in with a t- score of 70 or above on one of the DSM-oriented scales (ADHD, ODD, CD, anxiety problems, and affective problems) on the Child Behavior Checklist (i.e. reach the clinical cut-off)

3. the child must not report prior AOD use, and

4. parental consent and child assent are obtained.

Exclusion Criteria

1. the target child is actively psychotic, and

2. the family is not able to speak and understand English or Spanish well enough to complete study procedures.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 16 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Brown University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Anthony Spirito

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Anthony Spirito, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Brown University

Locations

Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

1R21DA024207

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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