Integrative Risk Reduction and Treatment for Teen Substance Use Problems and PTSD

Summary

Adolescents receiving RRFT and their caregivers will report significantly fewer substance use problems (quantity of use, frequency of use, and abuse symptoms) during treatment and follow-up than control adolescents who receive Treatment as Usual (TAU). Adolescents receiving RRFT and their caregivers will report improvement in empirically-demonstrated risk and protective factors for substance use and abuse at the individual level (e.g., coping) and at each level of an adolescent's ecology (e.g., increased number of positive family activities, reduced family conflict, reduced number of peers who use drugs, improved school attendance, increased involvement in pro-social community activities) during treatment and follow-up than control adolescents who receive TAU. Adolescents receiving RRFT will experience less PTSD symptoms (per youth and caregiver reports) during treatment and follow-up than control adolescents who receive TAU. Adolescents receiving RRFT will report engaging in fewer risky sexual behaviors (e.g., increased condom use, fewer partners) during treatment and follow-up than control adolescents who receive TAU. Changes during treatment in family relations (familial cohesiveness and conflict, satisfaction with caregiver-youth relationship) and parenting practices (monitoring) will mediate changes in substance use. Changes during treatment in emotional reactivity will mediate changes in PTSD symptoms.

Conditions

• PTSD
• Alcohol Use Disorders
• Substance Use Disorders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Risk Reduction through Family Therapy

RRFT is an integrative, ecologically-based approach to risk reduction and treatment. A Stage 1a feasibility trial and a Stage 1b pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating RRFT have been completed. This Stage 1 work has resulted in a treatment manual, a clinician training protocol, and a quality assurance system. Preliminary findings from these studies are promising, indicating that RRFT can be readily learned and implemented with fidelity, and that it can lead to improvements in drug use and drug use-related risk and protective factors, PTSD symptoms, and risky sexual behaviors.

BEHAVIORAL

Treatment as Usual

Participants assigned to the TAU condition will receive the standard treatment that a CSA victim would typically receive at community advocacy centers. In addition to treatment that is typically offered at the CACs, this will include a referral for substance abuse evaluation and may include referrals to other agencies in the community. TAU has been utilized as a comparison condition for several behavioral treatment evaluations involving adolescent substance abuse.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

  collaborator NIH

• Medical University of South Carolina

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Carla K Danielson, PhD · Medical University of South Carolina

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-11-01

Primary Completion

2018-07-12

Completion

2018-07-12

Countries

• United States

Study Locations