Brief Intervention for Drug-Abusing Delinquents/Parents

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adolescent drug use remains a serious public health problem, with frequent use of alcohol and other drugs among as many as one in three high school seniors (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 2002). In particular, substance use rates are substantially higher among youth involved in the juvenile justice system, with treatment access quite limited. This puts such youth at high risk for escalation of substance use and continued justice system involvement. The proposed R21 study will address this treatment gap by modifying an existing school-based brief intervention (Bl) for application with at-risk juvenile offenders and parents/caregivers. The proposed study targets a context (juvenile justice system) and a stage of drug use severity (mild or moderate drug abuse; MMDA) under-studied in the adolescent clinical treatment literature. After manual modification, we will evaluate the Bl's feasibility and acceptability by conducting a Stage 1b controlled pilot study with a randomized trial of 90 juvenile offenders at the Hillsborough County, FL Juvenile Arbitration Program (ARB), a juvenile diversion program. Three groups will be compared: 2-session adolescent only condition (BI-A); 3-session adolescent (2-session) and parent (1-session) condition (BI-AP); and an assessment only control condition. Specific Aims are: AIM 1: To adapt BI-A and BI-AP for a juvenile delinquent population and develop associated training manuals and training protocols; AIM 2: To conduct a pilot study of the efficacy of BI-A and BI-AP on post-treatment outcomes among MMDA diverted juvenile offenders. The primary hypotheses are that participants will show a significant reduction in drug use at outcome compared to baseline, and that the BI-AP participants will show greater treatment effects compared to BI-A. The study will build upon our team's previous and current research on the impacts of Bl on at-risk youth, and treatment interventions for juvenile offenders. Evidence of the feasibility and acceptability of the Bl will set the stage for future R01s to test in randomized trials the efficacy and effectiveness of the Bl for juvenile offenders in the community, and to develop strategies to implement diffusion and technology transfer to other jurisdictions. If successful, this efficient, relatively inexpensive intervention has enormous potential for reducing risks for escalating drug abuse and delinquency among under-served, at-risk delinquents.