Prevention and Reduction of Alcohol and Drug Problems in a Clinical Psychiatric Youth Population

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Alcohol Abuse; Drug Abuse; Mood Disorder; Anxiety Disorder; Conduct Disorder
• Interventions: Behavioral: Personality-targeted interventions

• Registration Number: NCT01595568
• Lead Sponsor: St. Justine's Hospital

Brief Summary

In adolescents, mental health problems are frequently associated with substance misuse, even considered a risk factor for alcohol abuse and dependence. This dual diagnosis tends to complicate the patient's treatment and prognosis by increasing, among others, substance use problems, reckless behaviours, relationships and school problems and suicidal thoughts. It is therefore critical to invest time and effort into developing an efficient approach to prevent and reduce substance use problems and offer these children a more global and optimal treatment.

A brief personality-targeted intervention was developed with students of Canadian and English high schools based on four personality factors known to be implicated in the vulnerability to adolescent alcohol misuse (Impulsivity, Anxiety Sensitivity, Negative Thinking and Sensation Seeking) (Conrod et al., 2006,2008, O'Leary-Barrett 2010).

By helping the adolescents to develop better adaptive behaviours, this cognitive-behavioural intervention proved to reduce binge drinking, quantity and frequency of use and substance use problems (Conrod et al., 2006,2011).

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of this intervention if combined to a regular treatment in a youth psychiatric population.

60 patients aged 14-17 years of a Child and Adolescent psychiatric department will be screened for personality risk with self-report assessments including the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale. Participants will be randomly assigned to a personality matched cognitive-behavioural intervention or a no-intervention control.

The main outcome measures of this study are alcohol and illicit drug outcomes. Secondary measures include mental health symptoms.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-02
• Study First Submitted: 2012-05-03
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-05-08
• Study First Posted: 2012-05-10
• Status Verified: 2012-07
• Primary Completion: 2012-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2012-07-18
• Last Update Posted: 2012-07-19

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 60

Inclusion Criteria

• Motive for psychiatric consultation
• Able to provide consent from parent/guardian for participation in the study

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: FACTORIAL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Learning to cope with your anxiety sensitivity	Personality-targeted interventions	Cognitive behavioural intervention teaching anxiety sensitive youth to manager their sensitivity to threat and anxiety.
Learning to manage your negative thinking	Personality-targeted interventions	Cognitive behavioural intervention targeting pessimistic and negative thinking in hopeless youth
Learning to cope with your impulsivity	Personality-targeted interventions	Cognitive-behavioural intervention targeting impulsive personality
Learning to cope with your sensation seeking	Personality-targeted interventions	Cognitive behavioural intervention designed to help sensation seeking youth manage their need for stimulation and excitement.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Drinking problems	Baseline - 4 months
Change in Binge drinking frequency	Baseline - 4months
Change in Drinking frequency	Baseline - 4 months
Change in Drinking quantity	Baseline - 4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Emotional and behavioural problems	Baseline - 4 months	Psychiatric symptoms (depression, panic anxiety, antisocial behaviours), coping skills, motives for drinking, assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Drinking Motives Questionnaire and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

CHU Ste-Justine; 🇨🇦 Montréal, Quebec, Canada