Characterizing Proximal Risk for Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Ideation With Acute Cannabis Use and Withdrawal Among Adolescents Using Ecological Momentary Assessment
Massachusetts General Hospital
Summary
The goal of this study is to disentangle relationships between acute cannabis use and withdrawal on proximal depression and suicide risk and recovery in adolescents ages 12-18 years by incorporating time-varying patterns of substance use, mood, and SI. This project aims to guide the development of scalable, individualized, accessible, and affordable interventions aimed to reduce depression and suicide risk among adolescents.
Description
We will recruit 200 community-based adolescents, ages 12-18 years, with daily or near daily cannabis use and current depression symptoms. Participants will be enrolled in a 10-week, 3-phased, mixed-methods protocol. All participants will complete a 2 week baseline phase (Phase 1) involving real-time, ambulatory smartphone monitoring (ecological momentary assessment; EMA) during which they will use cannabis per usual to quantify the temporal relationship between use and mood and SI, and the within- (e.g., concurrent other substance use, social context of use) and between-subject factors (e.g.,…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 12–18 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Ages 12-18; * Current daily or near daily cannabis use (i.e., use ≥ 4 days per week on average; Timeline Followback); * Score ≥ 5 on PHQ-9; * Access to an internet-capable smartphone (iOS or Android); * Provision of at least 1 collateral contact for risk monitoring; * Provision of informed assent (or consent if 18 years or older) and parent/guardian consent if \<age 18; * Greater than 50% response rate to EMA prompts during the first EMA phase; * No immediate plan to discontinue cannabis use in the next 3 months; * Positive toxicology result for cannabis on baseline urin…
Interventions
- BehavioralContingency management for cannabis abstinence
Those randomized to the abstinence condition (CB-Abst) will be incentivized using an escalating reinforcement schedule for eight weeks of cannabis abstinence.
Location
- Massachusetts General HopsitalBoston, Massachusetts