Brief Intervention for Alcohol Abusing Students

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study sets out to evaluate the efficacy of a brief, cognitive behavioral therapeutic intervention for adolescents reporting mild or moderate alcohol abuse. The intervention targets 270 middle and high school students. This school-based initiative employs a collaborative effort between University of Minnesota researchers and the St. Paul Public Schools. This project addresses several research areas of interest in the recent PA, "Treatment of Adolescents with Alcohol Use Disorders," which include developing more effective adolescent cognitive and behavioral-based treatment interventions, and improving engagement and retention of adolescents in treatment through behavioral techniques by clarifying and identifying mediators and moderators of treatment outcome. A randomized clinical trial will be employed to evaluate the efficacy of a 2-session, adolescent focused, cognitive-behavioral intervention vs. a 2-session adolescent plus a 1-session parent intervention vs. a control, assessment-only condition. The therapeutic approach to be utilized in this study is theoretically based in Cognitive therapy, Coping Skills therapy, and motivational interviewing. Specifically, this intervention aims to reduce post-treatment alcohol use behaviors and enhance cognitions and coping skills. It is apotheosized that the two intervention groups will reveal superior outcome compared to the control group, and that receiving the intervention including the parent component will reveal superior post-treatment behaviors compared to the adolescent-only intervention group. Several mediators and moderators of intervention effects will be examined.