Treatment for Adolescent Marijuana Abuse

NCT00580671 | Completed Results

• 3 other identifiers: 751855R01DA015186-075R01DA015186-08
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 153
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Marijuana remains the most prevalent illicit substance used by adolescents and the number of adolescents receiving treatment for marijuana abuse more than tripled during the last decade. A small number of clinical trials suggest that family-based and individual interventions have efficacy for treating adolescent substance abuse. However, even with these interventions most adolescents fail to reduce their substance use substantially, thus, there remains much room for improvement of treatment services. The overarching goal of this project is to develop and test novel behavioral treatments to enhance treatment outcome in this important treatment population, and in so doing, learn more about mechanisms of change that have broader implications for addiction science. In our initial Stage IB project "Behavioral Treatment for Adolescent Marijuana Abuse", we created, manualized, and pilot tested a unique contingency-management (CM) intervention that combined abstinence-based voucher incentives with contingency management training for parents. A small randomized, clinical trial provided encouraging results. When added to a commonly used cognitive-behavior therapy, CM improved rates of sustained abstinence during treatment. Adolescents receiving this intervention were less likely to relapse over the 9-month follow-up period, however this finding was not as robust as the observed during treatment effects, most likely due to the small sample size and associated low power to detect effects. Despite strong indicators of the efficacy of this CM intervention, there remained room for improvement in increasing rates of treatment response and reducing rates of relapse. Hypothesized mediators and moderators of change indicated that changes in parenting had direct effects on post-treatment marijuana abstinence outcomes, and that abstinence early in treatment was a robust predictor of the CM treatment effect. This proposal will systematically replicate and extend these findings. A Stage II trial will compare three treatment conditions: (1) cognitive behavior therapy (CBT only); (2) CBT plus CM; and (3) CBT plus an enhanced CM model targeting increased early abstinence rates, parenting skills, and maintenance of effects. Replicating the initial demonstration of the positive effects of CM will extend the scientific evidence for use of CM to increase treatment efficacy for substance-abusing adolescents. Testing an enhanced CM model will determine if modifications that are consistent with the underlying behavioral principles and empiricism supporting CM interventions can result in improved outcomes. Last, assessment of potential mechanisms of action, particularly parenting, adolescent psychopathology and impulsivity, will provide scientific information directly relevant to future development of more effective intervention and prevention models of adolescent substance abuse, and will inform us about fundamental mechanisms operating in drug-dependence.

Conditions

Marijuana Abuse

Keywords

Adolescent Marijuana Abuse

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Marijuana Abstinence (2 Weeks or Greater)

  Percentage of participants who achieved 2 continuous weeks of marijuana abstinence as verified by twice weekly urine testing during the 14 weeks of treatment.

  Testing done twice weekly for 14 weeks.

• Marijuana Abstinence (4 Weeks or Greater)

  Percentage of participants who achieved 4 continuous weeks of marijuana abstinence as verified by twice weekly urine testing during the 14 weeks of treatment.

  Twice weekly urine tests for 14 weeks.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Proportion of Days of Marijuana Abstinence Across All Days of Treatment (14 Weeks)

  This is for the proportion of days abstinent across the entire 14-week treatment period. Self-report data are collected twice weekly during treatment to obtain a cumulative proportion

Study Arms (3)

MET/CBT+CM/BPT

EXPERIMENTAL

Integrated psychosocial counseling. 14 weekly session. Twice weekly urine testing. Abstinence-based incentives based on urine test results. 14 weekly behavioral parenting sessions.

Behavioral: MET/CBT; Behavioral: CM; Behavioral: BPT

MET/CBT+CM

EXPERIMENTAL

Integrated psychosocial counseling. 14 weekly sessions. Twice weekly urine testing. Abstinence-based incentives based on urine test results.

Behavioral: MET/CBT; Behavioral: CM

MET/CBT

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Integrated psychosocial counseling. 14 weekly sessions.

Behavioral: MET/CBT

Interventions

MET/CBT BEHAVIORAL

Weekly Individual Counseling Sessions

MET/CBT; MET/CBT+CM; MET/CBT+CM/BPT

CM BEHAVIORAL

Abstinence-based incentives delivered contingent on drug-negative urine test results.

MET/CBT+CM; MET/CBT+CM/BPT

BPT BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral parent training involve 14 weekly counseling curriculum to improve parenting skills.

MET/CBT+CM/BPT

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 12 Years - 18 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• to 18 years old (if 18, they must attend high school and live at home)
• Report using marijuana during the previous 30 days or provide a marijuana- positive urine test
• Meet criteria for cannabis abuse or dependence
• Have a parent/guardian who can participate
• Live within a 30-minute driving range from the clinic

You may not qualify if:

• Currently meet DSM criteria for dependence on alcohol or other illicit drugs other than marijuana (use/abuse of other drugs will not be excluded)
• Exhibit active psychosis
• Have severe medical or psychiatric illness limiting participation
• Are pregnant or breast-feeding (youth only)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: lead
• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Lebanon, New Hampshire, 03756, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Kamon J, Budney A, Stanger C. A contingency management intervention for adolescent marijuana abuse and conduct problems. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;44(6):513-21. doi: 10.1097/01.chi.0000159949.82759.64.

  PMID: 15908833 BACKGROUND

• Stanger C, Ryan SR, Scherer EA, Norton GE, Budney AJ. Clinic- and home-based contingency management plus parent training for adolescent cannabis use disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2015 Jun;54(6):445-53.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.02.009. Epub 2015 Feb 28.

  PMID: 26004659 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Marijuana Abuse

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Mental Disorders

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Alan J. Budney, PhD
• Organization: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

alan.j.budney@dartmouth.edu

855-290-2822

Study Officials

• Alan J Budney, Ph.D.

  Dartmouth College

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 21, 2007
• First Posted: December 27, 2007
• Study Start: November 1, 2007
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2012
• Study Completion: December 1, 2013
• Last Updated: August 20, 2015
• Results First Posted: June 5, 2013

Record last verified: 2015-07

Locations

US (1)