Brief Intervention for Families of Teens Treated in the Emergency Department for an Alcohol-Related Event

Phase 1

Completed

• Conditions: Alcohol Abuse
• Interventions: Behavioral: MI/Family Check-up; Behavioral: MI only

• Registration Number: NCT00247221
• Lead Sponsor: Brown University

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of a brief family intervention in reducing alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among families of underage drinkers (13-17 years old) who are treated in a hospital emergency department for an alcohol-related event.

Detailed Description

The long-term objectives of this research program are to develop effective interventions in health care settings for reducing problem drinking and associated problems among adolescents and to further enhance intervention approaches by identifying effective elements of treatment. The major purpose of this study is to compare a brief integrated individual and family intervention designed to reduce alcohol use and related problems to an enhanced standard care condition (standard care plus family assessment).

The targeted population is underage drinkers (13-17 years old) who have been treated in an Emergency Department following an alcohol-related event. It is important to intervene with this population because alcohol-involved adolescents may be at higher risk for having continuing alcohol problems (Fillmore, 1988; Zucker, in press). The intervention is conceptualized as using a "teachable moment" (i.e., shortly after a salient event) to increase family interest in reducing harmful drinking. The experimental intervention integrates an individual Motivational Interview (MI) for the adolescent, based on our research group's prior work with this intervention, with a brief family intervention, the Family Check-Up (Dishion \& Kavanagh, 2003).

The experimental condition will be compared to standard care plus family assessment. This design allows us to test the added benefit of the brief family intervention compared to the benefits often derived from assessment without added treatment. Follow-up interviews will be conducted at 3, 6, and 12 months after the baseline intervention to assess outcome. The specific aims of this proposal are to test the effectiveness of the experimental intervention in reducing alcohol-related problems, alcohol consumption, and other behavior problems compared to the enhanced standard care condition. Second, we will examine whether depressed mood and behavior problems at baseline moderate the effects of the treatment conditions. We will also test whether individual factors (motivation to change behavior) and environmental factors (parent/family influence and peer influence) mediate the relation between the treatment condition and outcomes.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2002-10
• Study First Submitted: 2005-10-28
• Study First Submitted QC: 2005-10-28
• Study First Posted: 2005-11-01
• Primary Completion: 2008-07
• Study Completion: 2008-07
• Status Verified: 2012-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2012-07-28
• Last Update Posted: 2012-07-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 208

Inclusion Criteria

• Child aged 13-17 years
• Receiving treatment at the approved medical Emergency Department
• Child living in a home with at least one parent or legal guardian

Exclusion Criteria

• Children who are suicidal, in police custody, not alert/oriented, non-English speaking, in severe pain, or who have sustained severe trauma
• Children with a history of prior substance abuse treatment

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
1) MI/Family Check-Up	MI/Family Check-up	Brief integrated individual and family intervention -- the experimental intervention integrates an individual Motivational Interview (MI) for the adolescent with a brief family intervention, the Family Check-Up
2) MI only	MI only	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Alcohol use	12 months	Drinking frequency (days per month), quantity (drinks per occasion), and frequency of high-volume drinking (5 or more drinks per occasion) over the prior 3 months.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
marijuana use	3 months	Days of use in prior 3 months
Marijuana use	12 months	Days of use in prior 3 months

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Rhode Island Hospital/Lifespan Corporation and Brown University; 🇺🇸 Providence, Rhode Island, United States