Youth Living In Balance (LIB)

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) proposal is to continue the development and evaluation of Youth Living in Balance (Youth LIB), an innovative, comprehensive psychoeducational program for counselors to use with adolescents ages 13 to 18 with problems related to alcohol or other substances, and their families. In 2002, only 8.2 percent of the estimated 2.3 million youth who needed addiction treatment received it, leaving an estimated 2.1 million adolescents without assistance (SAMHSA, 2003). Overall, the field lacks research-based, manualized approaches to adolescent substance abuse that can be replicated, evaluated, disseminated, and easily integrated into existing youth treatment programs (Dennis, 2002; Riggs, 2003). Youth LIB will serve this purpose by integrating research-based approaches into a replicable, manualized psychoeducational program that can be easily integrated into existing treatment centers and will specifically meet the developmental needs of adolescents ages 13 to 18 and their families. This developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive program will contain a facilitator's guide that will include the following sections: (1) an introduction and overview of how to use the program; (2) counselor, participant, and family materials for 12 core client sessions that include motivational engagement techniques to increase adolescent motivation for treatment and adoption of healthy behaviors; and (3) counselor, participant, and family materials for eight supplemental sessions. In Phase I, Danya developed the full content for the facilitator's guide and 12 core treatment sessions, and conducted an Advisory Panel content review and feasibility study with professional stakeholders. In Phase II, we aim to incorporate recommended changes to Youth LIB; develop and incorporate family content into the core psychoeducational sessions; develop content for eight supplemental sessions; conduct an outcome evaluation of Youth LIB to determine curriculum efficacy; and finalize the curriculum based on the results of the pilot evaluation. Given the shortage of research-based psychoeducational curricula for adolescents with substance use problems and their families, Youth LIB should contribute to public health by improving services and outcomes for these youth.