Adolescent-Only SBI Versus Family-Based SBI in Primary Care for Adolescent Alcohol Use

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare a standard adolescent-only approach to substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment to a in primary care settings. Primary outcomes (AOD use, co-occurring behavior problems, parent-youth communication about AOD use) and secondary outcomes (adolescent quality of life, therapy attendance) are assessed at screen/initial and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months follow-up.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

12–17 years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Behavioral
  Standard Screening

  All consented youth age 12-17 years complete a patient-facing, well-validated digital screening tool, the CRAFFT (Knight et al., 2003), which assesses number of days during the past year, and then the past 3 months, during which various formulations of AOD were used. If youth report 0 days of AOD use, the tool asks whether they have ridden in a car whose driver was intoxicated; if this response is negative, they are categorized Low Risk. If youth report \> 0 days of AOD use, the tool asks five additional questions assessing use risk and consequences; also, youth who report nicotine use in the past 30 days complete a nicotine dependence checklist (DiFranza et al., 2002). Screen data are then combined to sort youth into three risk categories: Riding Risk Only (no reported AOD use but indicated rode in car driven by intoxicated person), Distant Use (reported AOD use in past year but not past 3 months), or Recent Use (reported AOD use in past 3 months).

• Behavioral
  Standard Psychoeducation

  In the wait area, youth receive a tablet-delivered brief digital AOD education tutorial that includes advice to abstain from or reduce AOD use. The tutorial focuses on adolescent AOD prevalence rates and related behavioral symptoms; AOD use neurobiology and its relation to adolescent health; and common AOD impacts on developmental milestones (see Meredith et al., 2021). Psychoeducation for AOD has shown positive effects as both a universal and selective prevention strategy (Bröning et al., 2021; Das et al., 2016).

• Behavioral
  Standard Brief Negotiated Interview (BNI)

  In primary care (PC) office, youth and providers together complete a tablet-supported brief negotiated interview (BNI; see Beaton et al., 2016). The BNI is informed by AOD use data gathered during youth screening (O'Grady et al., 2015). The BNI focuses on (a) education about AOD disorders, including youth and family factors that impact AOD use; (b) user-tailored feedback comparing the given youth's AOD use and related problems to national norms, along with information on neurobiological effects and developmental impacts of frequent use (Harris et al., 2012); (c) motivational tools (e.g., reduction readiness rulers) and decisional balance exercises (weighing positive versus negative personal impacts of AOD use) tailored to the youth's use levels (Slavet et al., 2006; King et al., 2009); and (d) AOD reduction goal-setting interventions tailored to the youth's readiness to change AOD use (Walton et al., 2013).

Location