Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
Brief Family-Based Cannabis Use Intervention for Youth with Early Juvenile Justice Involvement - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Although cannabis use has declined among youth in recent years, the rates of cannabis use among youth in the juvenile justice system have steadily increased, including among youth with early juvenile justice involvement. This rise is concerning because cannabis use among early justice-involved youth in the juvenile justice system places them at risk of other poor outcomes (e.g., continued and chronic system involvement, contraction of HIV/STIs). Thus, the overall goal of this Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award (K23) is to support the applicant in developing an independent research program in the development and adaptation of efficacious family-based intervention approaches for treating cannabis use and associated consequences (e.g., rearrest, HIV/STI risk behaviors) for underserved, justice-involved youth. Specific training goals are: 1) develop methodological expertise in family-based intervention research for adolescent cannabis use; 2) gain competence in executing ethical intervention adaptation research with justice-involved youth; 3) build expertise in using qualitative methods for treatment adaptation; and 4) obtain advanced quantitative skills in randomized clinical trial design and data analysis. The applicant will achieve these goals through a mix of mentoring, didactics, and practical experience. Across the 5-year training plan, the candidate will receive mentorship pertaining to her goals from: Dr. Kathleen Kemp (Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University), Dr. Anthony Spirito (Brown University) and Dr. Richard Jones (Brown University). The primary objective of the proposed research project is to evaluate the initial feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a brief (i.e., 6- session), modular adaptation of an existing family-based intervention for cannabis use and other risk behaviors (e.g., HIV/STI risk, delinquency) among early justice-involved youth. In the formative research phase, clinicians (N = 12) working with youth in the juvenile justice system will participate in qualitative interviews to give feedback on the proposed adapted family-based intervention protocol. In the open trial phase, 12 youths and parents will be recruited through a juvenile court to participate in an open trial of the proposed intervention to assess initial outcomes related to the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Finally, in the pilot randomized clinical trial phase, 60 parents and youths will again be recruited through the juvenile court and randomized to either the proposed intervention or a parenting psychoeducation control condition. Baseline, 3- months and 6-month follow-up measures of cannabis and other substance use, HIV/STI risk behaviors, and delinquency, as well as measures pertaining to parenting practices and parent well-being will be collected.
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