Individual and Family Motivational Interviews for Substance Using Truant Teens

NCT01170026 | Completed Results DMC

• 1 other identifier: 1 R34 DA0029871
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 69
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This application will provide a test of one potential model for adding substance use assessment and brief intervention into a truancy court program. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether a motivational intervention will reduce substance use among adolescents referred to truancy court for school attendance problems. In this treatment development application, an open trial with 20 families referred by truancy court will first be conducted. This trial will be used to adapt an existing motivational intervention to include material relevant to school attendance and performance. Then 100 families participating in the Rhode Island Truancy Court Program with adolescents between the ages of 13-16 years who report using substances will be randomly assigned to receive the experimental intervention plus standard truancy court procedures or psychoeducation plus standard truancy court procedures. The 2-session intervention protocol consists of an individual motivational interview plus the Family Check-Up (Dishion \& Kavanagh, 2003), a family based motivational interview. The experimental protocol provides a thorough assessment of both individual and family strengths and weaknesses with respect to substance use prevention and school attendance/performance. Follow-up interviews will be conducted at 3 and 6 months.

Conditions

Substance Use

Keywords

substance use; adolescents; intervention; truancy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Marijuana Use Days in Past 90 Days

  Number of Days in which a Participant Responded "Yes" to Marijuana use in the Past 90 Days" range = 0 to 90; higher scores indicate more marijuana use

  3 Month Follow-Up and 6 month follow-up

• Alcohol Use Days in Past 90 Days

  If a Participant Responded "Yes" to Alcohol use in the Past 90 Days" ; yes /no

  3 and 6 Month Follow-Up

Study Arms (2)

Family Check-up/Individual MI

EXPERIMENTAL

Two session motivational intervention to improve parent monitoring and communication with respect to adolescent risk behavior especially substance use plus 2 session Individual Motivational Intervention for the adolescent

Behavioral: Family Check-up/ Individual MI

Psychoeducation

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

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

Behavioral: Individual and family psychoeducation

Interventions

Family Check-up/ Individual MI BEHAVIORAL

The 2-session intervention protocol consists of an individual motivational interview plus the Family Check-Up (Dishion \& Kavanagh, 2003), a family based motivational interview. The experimental protocol provides a thorough assessment of both individual and family strengths and weaknesses with respect to substance use prevention and school attendance/performance.

Also known as: (Family Check-up)

Family Check-up/Individual MI

Individual and family psychoeducation BEHAVIORAL

Families in PE will return for the same number of visits as the IMI and FCU sessions of the IMI/FCU condition. An interventionist will review a set of educational materials with the parents regarding teen SU use, truancy and risk behaviors and parenting a teenager. A similar set of materials will be reviewed with the adolescent

Also known as: (Psychoed)

Psychoeducation

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 16 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• between the ages of 13-16 at the start of the project and living at home with at least one parent/guardian,
• t- score of 70 or above on one of the diagnostic-oriented scales (internalizing or externalizing problems) on the Child Behavior Checklist (i.e. reach the clinical cut-off),
• the child must report 6 or more incidences of substance use in the last 90 days,
• parental consent and child assent are obtained.

You may not qualify if:

• adolescent meets diagnostic criteria for substance dependence suggesting need for more intensive services,
• the family is not able to speak and understand English or Spanish well enough to complete study procedures.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Brown University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island, 02912, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Substance-Related Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Chemically-Induced Disorders; Mental Disorders

Limitations and Caveats

The small sample size suggests that the findings may not be stable. Substance use was self-reported and not corroborated by secondary observers, with the exception of the UDS data at 6 months.

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Anthony Spirito
• Organization: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University

anthony_spirito@brown.edu

401-369-2435

Study Officials

• Anthony Spirito, PhD

  Brown Medicl School

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

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

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2010
• First Posted: July 27, 2010
• Study Start: August 1, 2010
• Primary Completion: January 1, 2013
• Study Completion: July 1, 2013
• Last Updated: January 15, 2025
• Results First Posted: January 15, 2025

Record last verified: 2024-11

Locations

US (1)