Brief Voluntary Alcohol and Drug Intervention for Middle School Youth

说明(申请人提供)：中学阶段是酗酒和吸食大麻的高峰期(Johnston等人，2004年)。不幸的是，大多数吸毒和遇到问题的年轻人不太可能自愿使用正式的预防服务(D‘Amico，2005；Johnson等人，2001；Wu等人，2003)。最近的一小部分研究表明，年轻人可能受益于简短、自愿和容易获得的不那么正式的计划(Brown，2001；Brown等人，2005；D‘Amico等人，2004；D’Amico&Orlando，2005)。然而，这种类型的干预项目很少被开发出来(Little and Harris，2003)。因此，虽然这种方法显示了希望，但年轻青少年可能选择参加的干预计划的影响尚未得到广泛研究。一种这样的干预措施，项目选择，是由PI使用NIAAA为开发工作提供的资金(R21AA13284-01)开发和测试的。项目选择是对中学生进行测试的唯一自愿干预措施，我们的小型准实验研究已经在一个学校环境中证明了其有效性(D‘Amico等人，2005；D’Amico&Orlando，2005)。项目选择干预解决了该领域的几个关键空白，包括开始了解这个年龄段的志愿服务利用情况，以及评估这种类型的计划可能如何影响学校范围内酒精和其他药物的使用(AOD)。拟议为期5年的纵向研究的主要目标是通过对项目选择进行更严格的测试，在最初工作的基础上再接再厉。这项研究将包括16所中学，它们位于南加州种族多元化的城市洛杉矶、圣莫尼卡和托兰斯。这些学校将被随机分配为干预组(n=8)或对照组(n=8)。我们将首先通过测试项目选择是否影响参与干预的学生的AOD相关结果来检验个人水平的影响。然后，我们将通过测试干预学校中所有学生的AOD率是否受到影响来检验学校层面的影响，而不考虑参与的学校。我们假设这些学校层面的影响将是由于学校环境的变化(例如，项目选择广告、学生对项目选择的讨论、社会规范的变化)。考虑到这种学校层面的影响，本研究的次要目标是更好地了解谁参与了项目选择，以及这些参与者和学校环境的变化如何影响那些没有参与的人的态度和行为。这项研究采用了一种新的方法来参与AOD，因为它强调个人改变自我的努力和自然恢复，并对使用和不使用的年轻人都有吸引力。这份申请书中提出的工作代表了这一研究方向的下一步重要步骤：更严格地评估项目选择及其对全校和更多青年人口的个人成果的潜在影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The middle school years are peak years for initiation of alcohol and marijuana (Johnston et al., 2004). Unfortunately, most youth who engage in substance use and experience problems are unlikely to voluntarily make use of formal prevention services (D'Amico, 2005; Johnson et al., 2001; Wu et al., 2003). A small body of recent research suggests that youth may benefit from less formal programs that are brief, voluntary, and easily accessible (Brown, 2001; Brown et al., 2005; D'Amico et al., 2004; D'Amico & Orlando, 2005). However, very few intervention programs of this type have been developed (Little and Harris, 2003). Thus, while this approach shows promise, the impact of intervention programs that younger teens may choose to attend has not been extensively examined. One such intervention, Project CHOICE, was developed and tested by the PI using NIAAA funding for developmental work (R21AA13284-01). Project CHOICE is the only voluntary intervention that has been tested for middle school youth and our small quasi-experimental study has demonstrated its efficacy in one school setting (D'Amico et al., 2005; D'Amico & Orlando, 2005). The Project CHOICE intervention addresses several critical gaps in the field, including beginning to understand voluntary service utilization among this age group and assessing how this type of program may impact school-wide use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD). The main objective of the proposed 5-year longitudinal study is to build on our initial work by conducting a more rigorous test of Project CHOICE. The study will include 16 middle schools, located in the ethnically diverse Southern California cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Torrance. These schools will be randomly assigned as intervention (n= 8) or control (n = 8). We will first examine individual-level effects by testing whether Project CHOICE affects AOD-related outcomes among students who participate in the intervention. We will then examine school-level effects by testing whether AOD rates among all students in the intervention schools are affected, regardless of participation. We assume that these school-level effects will be due to changes in the school environment (e.g., Project CHOICE advertising, discussion of Project CHOICE among students, changes in social norms). In anticipation of this school-level impact, a secondary objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of who participates in Project CHOICE, as well as how these participants and changes in the school environment may influence the attitudes and behaviors of those who do not participate. This research incorporates a novel methodology for AOD involvement, as it emphasizes personal self-change efforts and natural recovery and is appealing to both using and non-using youth. The work proposed in this application represents the important next step in this line of research: to more critically evaluate Project CHOICE and its potential impact on both school-wide and individual outcomes with a larger population of youth.