JUNTOS Familia Preventive Intervention
Alcohol UseUnderageThe primary objective of this study is to develop and pilot-test a family-based Latino youth alcohol use preventive intervention for Latino youth (ages 14-16) and one of their parents. The preventive intervention will equip youth, parents, and families with skills to manage stress related to prejudice, discrimination, and racism as a means to reduce Latino youth alcohol use risk. Informed by ecodevelopmental, social norms, family stress, stress and coping theories, and racial socialization theories, the central hypothesis is that active coping skills can buffer against the negative effect of social stressors (i.e., experiences related to prejudice, discrimination, and racism) on youth alcohol outcomes/related risks/cognitions; and active coping skills can offset the negative effect of social stress on parental adjustment, family functioning and parenting behaviors, thereby reducing youth alcohol use risk. Using an iterative approach to intervention development, within a mixed-method research design, the purpose of this study is to construct intervention sessions that impart active coping skills to better manage social stress related to prejudice, discrimination, and racism. In Aim 1, we will use qualitative methods to inform the development of intervention sessions that target coping with prejudice, discrimination, and racism. I will conduct focus groups with youth (5 groups, n=6-8) and parents (5 groups, n=6-8) to identify how youth and parents experience and cope with perceived ethnic discrimination; the skills and resources they would like to further develop; and to seek input regarding the structure and logistics of the intervention. In Aim 2, we will create a family-based youth alcohol use preventive intervention curriculum that targets coping with prejudice, discrimination, and racism. I will identify strategies used in existing preventive interventions and draw from Aim 1 qualitative findings to develop tentative intervention sessions. We will then conduct focus groups with youth (5 groups, n=6-8) and parents (5 groups, n=6-8) to seek feedback on tentative intervention sessions. We will then integrate focus group data into the intervention curriculum and modify it accordingly and develop manuals in English and Spanish. In Aim 3, we will pilot test the intervention among Latino families (i.e., one youth and one parent) in Texas. We will pilot test the intervention with 60 families (i.e., youth-parent dyads; N=30 intervention group; N = 30 comparison group) from high schools in the Austin Independent School District to a) assess intervention feasibility and acceptability, and b) determine preliminary effect size estimates for the intervention's promise to improve youth and parent coping skills, family functioning, parenting behaviors, and youth alcohol outcomes.
Alcohol Feedback, Reflection and Morning Evaluation
Youth DrinkingAlcohol DrinkingThe investigators propose to examine mornings after drinking as an optimal time to provide repeated, personalized feedback, with the goal of reducing hazardous drinking. Specifically, the investigators will further develop and pilot test a novel theory-based personalized feedback intervention (PFI) for heavy drinking young adults. Intervention strategies include personalized feedback (e.g., feedback on prior night blood alcohol concentration, consequences) contrasted with both drinking goals set at baseline and corrective normative feedback (e.g., how last night's drinking compares to peers). Up to 170 participants (50% non-college) will be randomized to one of three groups: PFI with monetary incentives for daily surveys, PFI without monetary incentives, or survey assessment only. The investigators will examine recruitment rates, retention rates, confirmation of intervention content delivery/intake, response rates to daily surveys, data quality, and ratings of intervention value. Investigators will test whether these indicators of engagement differ between those who do and do not receive monetary incentives for daily surveys. Further, baseline, post-test, and 3-month follow-up assessments will allow us to examine differences in drinking behavior between PFI and control. The results of the proposed research will result in a novel and scalable intervention for alcohol misuse among young adults, with potential to have an important impact on the public health problem of high-risk drinking.
Assessing the Feasibility of Economic Approaches to Prevent Substance Abuse Among Adolescents
Adolescent DrinkingHIV/AIDS1 moreThe proposed study will test the impact of an economic empowerment intervention on reducing alcohol and drug use (ADU) among adolescents and youth living with HIV (AYLHIV) in poverty-impacted communities in Uganda. It focuses on improving understanding of multi-level context- specific risk and protective factors for ADU among AYLHIV.
Effects of Topiramate on Adolescent Alcohol Use: Efficacy and Mechanisms
Alcohol DrinkingThis study will help to determine whether the medication, topiramate, reduces alcohol use among adolescents with alcohol dependence. It will also help answer the question, "How does topiramate reduce drinking in teenagers?" Understanding how topiramate may reduce drinking in adolescents would allow for a more targeted pharmacotherapeutic approach to treatment and help to identify additional medications that may hold promise for improving treatment outcomes for youth.
Mindfulness Mobile App to Reduce Adolescent Substance Use
Adolescent DrinkingAdolescent Problem BehaviorSubstance-abusing youth - especially those who are involved in the juvenile justice system - are at higher risk than nonusers for mental health problems, including depression, conduct problems, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, and completed suicide. The proposed Phase II project aims to develop and test the efficacy of a mobile app, called Rewire, that is geared toward helping high risk adolescent substance users reduce or quit their substance use. The Rewire app is based on the primary substance use cessation components tested in our previous work with juvenile justice-involved adolescents and on intervention components shown to be central to smoking cessation; it applies a mindfulness approach as the guiding framework for the intervention.
An e-Parenting Skills Intervention to Decrease Injured Adolescents' Alcohol Use
ParentingAlcohol DrinkingThe objective of this trial is to test feasibility and acceptability of an e-parenting skills intervention with parents of injured adolescent alcohol users (12-17 years old) as compared to standard care at three pediatric trauma centers. To examine these questions, the investigators will randomly assign adolescent and parent dyads (up to 75) to one of two groups. One group will continue to receive the institutional standard care of a brief alcohol intervention delivered by clinical staff to the adolescent with no parenting skills intervention. The second group will continue to receive the same institutional standard care plus the parent will receive an e-parenting skills intervention consisting of: the online parent training program, Parenting Wisely(PW), plus text messaging and a web-based message board. Study participants will be injured adolescents, 12-17 years old, admitted to the inpatient service of the trauma center, and with a positive CRAFFT (mnemonic acronym of first letters of key words in the screening tool) screen for alcohol use. Adolescents' alcohol use will be measured at study enrollment and at 3 and 6 months after discharge. Adolescents' alcohol related negative consequences will be measured at study enrollment for the 6 months prior to hospitalization and again at 6 months after hospital discharge. Parenting skills will also be assessed at 3 and 6 months.
Evaluating Personalized Information and Choices
FeedbackPsychological3 moreThis research examines a theoretically informed web-based personalized feedback intervention to reduce alcohol-related risky sexual behavior among young adult drinkers. To accomplish this objective the study has enrolled a national sample of 1200 young adults aged 18-20 and is in the process of assessing them at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months. The investigators will evaluate the overall efficacy of the interventions based on the Prototype Willingness Model by comparing underage young adult drinkers randomly assigned to receive the reason-based pathway intervention (n=300), the social-based pathway intervention (n=300), or the integrated intervention based on the full Prototype Willingness Model (both pathways, n=300) to an attention control group (n=300). The investigators will examine whether changes in components of both the reasoned and social pathways and drinking mediate intervention efficacy on reducing alcohol-related risky sexual behavior. Past behavior and college student status will be evaluated as moderators of intervention efficacy. The proposed study is both significant and innovative in that it will evaluate brief interventions among a national sample of young adults attending and not attending college, will utilize social networking sites for participant recruitment, and will test the efficacy of interventions based on individual and integrated pathways of the Prototype Willingness Model.
Facilitating Adolescent Self-Change for Alcohol Problems
Underage DrinkingThis present multi-site investigation compares a voluntary brief intervention for adolescent alcohol problems to an educational comparison condition. Measures are taken at intake and at 4 and 12 weeks post intake to determine effectiveness of the intervention to promote personal change efforts and arrest progression of alcohol problems. This study tests cognitive mechanisms of change and treatment characteristics and processes associated with youth self-regulation to reduce or stop hazardous drinking.
Family Intervention for Teen Drinking in the ER
Alcohol AbuseThe investigators propose a randomized controlled trial with five aims: 1. To investigate the engagement potential and effectiveness of a family-centered intervention (MDFT) and Family Motivational Interviewing Intervention (FMII)/group for teens with alcohol-related crises; 2. To explore differential treatment effects with comorbid adolescents; 3. To examine the role of motivation and family factors as treatment mediators; 4. To examine long-term abstinence, patterns and predictors of relapse up to 18 months follow-up; and 5. To compare the total and net monetary benefits to society of MDFT, FMII/group, and standard care.
A Community-Based Strategy for Preventing Underage Drinking
Alcohol AbuseThis project evaluates a combination of policy and social influence interventions to reduce adolescent alcohol use and its sequelae.