Cognitive Behavioral Interventions That Target Personality Risk for Substance Abuse and Mental Illness: Delivery by Educational Professionals

The Adventure study aims to examine whether educational professionals such as teachers, mentors or individuals in a pastoral role, who are trained in carrying out personality-targeted interventions will be effective in reducing problem behaviours in a group of adolescents.

20 schools in London, U.K. were recruited for the trial, and over 2000 adolescents (mean age 13.7 years) consented to participate in the survey and intervention phases of the trial. Schools were randomly assigned to control or intervention condition, and students in intervention schools who met the criteria for any of the 4 personality risk subscales of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (Negative Thinking, Anxiety Sensitivity, Sensation Seeking and Impulsivity) were invited to participate in a personality-targeted intervention by trained members of staff from their schools. All participants were invited to complete follow-up surveys at 6-month intervals for 2 years. The remaining 55% of low risk students in the grad were also followed to examine population-level effects of the intervention as well.

The main outcome measures of this RCT are alcohol and illicit drug outcomes. Secondary measures include mental health symptoms, risky behaviour, school attainment and attendance, and school-wide behaviours.

It is hypothesised that teacher-delivered personality-targeted interventions will have similar preventative effects on alcohol and drug use as reported by Conrod et al (2008, 2010), in addition to the personality-specific intervention effects reported by Castellanos & Conrod (2006). In addition, broader effects of the intervention on academic achievement and school-wide behaviour will be examined in this trial, both at the individual level and at the population-level.