Narrative review: Revised Principles and Practice Recommendations for Adolescent Substance Use Treatment and Policy.

Objective: In 2014, the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse released the "Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment," summarizing previously established evidence and outlining principles of effective assessment, treatment, and aftercare for substance use disorders (SUD).

Comparing organization-focused and state-focused financing strategies on provider-level reach of a youth substance use treatment model: a mixed-method study.

Background: Financial barriers in substance use disorder service systems have limited the widespread adoption-i.e., provider-level reach-of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for youth substance use disorders.

Comparing two federal financing strategies on penetration and sustainment of the adolescent community reinforcement approach for substance use disorders: protocol for a mixed-method study.

Background: Sustained, widespread availability of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is essential to address the public health and societal impacts of adolescent substance use disorders (SUD). There remains a particularly significant need to identify effective financing strategies, which secure and direct financial resources to support the costs associated with EBP implementation and sustainment. This protocol describes a new project comparing two types of U.

Attitudes and beliefs among Georgia addiction treatment staff about medication for opioid use disorder in adolescents, young adults, and adults: a multi-mixed methods study.

Adverse consequences, including non-fatal overdose and death, are prevalent in adolescents and young adults with opioid use disorder (OUD). Barriers toward medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) have been identified in adult populations but are poorly understood in youth. This exploratory multi-mixed methods study examines beliefs and attitudes of addiction treatment program staff about the use of MOUD in youth.

Volunteer Recovery Support for Adolescents: Using propensity score based methods to understand dosage effects within a randomized controlled trial.

Background: In a recently published randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Volunteer Recovery Support for Adolescents (VRSA), a secondary finding indicated that better adherence to planned VRSA telephone session frequency resulted in significantly higher remission rates relative to lower session adherence. However, interpretation of this dose-response relationship may have been confounded by participant characteristics such as baseline levels of substance use and mental health problems.

Methods: The present study used statistical methods designed to approximate RCTs when comparing more than two nonequivalent groups that include an assessment of the potential impact of omitted variables.

Treatment Retention and Outcomes with the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach in Emerging Adults with Opioid Use.

Treatment retention and engagement of emerging adults with opioid use disorders can be particularly challenging. This study compares treatment outcomes of young adults with primary opioid use (OU) to those with primary marijuana or alcohol use (MAU), who received the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA), an evidence-based therapy for the treatment of substance use. The MAU and OU groups were comprised of an outcome sample of 419 young adults ages 18-25.

Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach implementation and treatment outcomes for youth with opioid problem use.

Background: This paper compares adolescents with primary opioid problem use (OPU) to those with primary marijuana or alcohol problem use (MAPU) who received up to six months of Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA), an empirically supported treatment.

Methods: Intake clinical characteristics, treatment implementation measures, and clinical outcomes of two substance problem groups (OPU and MAPU) were compared using data from 1712 adolescents receiving A-CRA treatment. Data were collected at intake and 3, 6, and 12 months post-intake.

Continuing Care for Adolescents in Treatment for Substance Use Disorders.

Adolescents who enter treatment for substance use often do not complete the program and do not connect with continuing care services. Most return to some level of substance use. Our review found 10 outcome studies of continuing care treatment.

Validation of the Full and Short-Form Self-Help Involvement Scale Against the Rasch Measurement Model.

Background: Substance use disorders (SUDs) are one of the nation's most costly problems in terms of dollars, disability, and death. Self-help programs are among the varied recovery support options available to address SUD, and evaluation of these programs depends on good measurement. There exists an unmet need for a psychometrically sound, brief, efficient measure of self-help involvement for individuals with SUD that is valid across different substances and age-groups.

Recovery Support for Adolescents with Substance use Disorders: The Impact of Recovery Support Telephone Calls Provided by Pre-Professional Volunteers.

The present quasi-experiment examined the direct and indirect effects of recovery support telephone calls following adolescent substance use disorder treatment. Six-month outcome data from 202 adolescents who had received recovery support calls from primarily pre-professional (i.e.

The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) as a model paradigm for the management of adolescents with substance use disorders and co-occurring psychiatric disorders.

Background: Integrated treatment for youth with substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring psychiatric disorders is recommended; however, there are few studies that have evaluated integrated treatment approaches.

Methods: This paper includes a brief review of cognitive-behavioral and family therapies, since they have been demonstrated to be effective treatments for the disorders that commonly co-occur with substance use. It also describes how an integrated treatment paradigm has been implemented using one Empirically Supported Treatment, the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA).

A randomized trial of assertive continuing care and contingency management for adolescents with substance use disorders.

Objective: Most adolescents relapse within 90 days of discharge from residential substance use treatment. We hypothesized that contingency management (CM), assertive continuing care (ACC), and their combination (CM + ACC) would each be more effective than usual continuing care (UCC).

Method: Following residential treatment, 337 adolescents were randomized to 4 continuing care conditions: UCC alone, CM, ACC, or CM + ACC.

HIV risk behaviors: risky sexual activities and needle use among adolescents in substance abuse treatment.

This study estimated prevalence of HIV risk behaviors and its association with substance use and mental health problems among adolescents in treatment. A pooled dataset of 9,519 adolescents admitted to substance abuse treatment programs between 2002 and 2006 was analyzed. HIV risk behaviors, substance use, and mental health problems were assessed at treatment intake.

Adolescent outpatient treatment and continuing care: main findings from a randomized clinical trial.

This study evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of two types of outpatient treatment with and without Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) for 320 adolescents with substance use disorders. Study participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (a) Chestnut's Bloomington Outpatient Treatment (CBOP) without ACC; (b) CBOP with ACC; (c) Motivational Enhancement Therapy/Cognitive Behavior Therapy-7 session model (MET/CBT7) without ACC; and (d) MET/CBT7 with ACC. All study conditions attained high rates of participant engagement and retention.

Adolescent substance abuse treatment clinicians' self-help meeting referral practices and adolescent attendance rates.

Clinicians in adolescent substance abuse treatment programs often recommend attendance at 12-Step meetings; however, there has been no systematic study of their referral practices or possible influence on attendance rates. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to examine: (a) the self-help referral practices of clinicians employed in adolescent substance abuse treatment programs; and (b) the potential relationship between practices and self-help attendance. Data were analyzed from open-ended interviews with 28 clinicians at eight CSAT-funded SCY sites and from follow-up interviews with over 1,600 adolescents.

One-year treatment patterns and change trajectories for adolescents participating in outpatient treatment for the first time.

The American Society on Addiction Medicine's Patient Placement criteria are commonly used in adolescent treatment. However, the use of these criteria and how they affect the course of treatment and interact with adolescent change has not been examined. Twelve-month treatment patterns were examined for 176 adolescents who entered their first ever episode in a treatment system using these criteria.

The effect of assertive continuing care on continuing care linkage, adherence and abstinence following residential treatment for adolescents with substance use disorders.

Aims: This study compared assertive continuing care (ACC) to usual continuing care (UCC) on linkage, retention and a measure of continuing care adherence. Outcome analyses tested the direct and indirect effects of both conditions and level of adherence on early (months 1-3) and longer-term (months 4-9) abstinence.

Design: Two-group randomized design.

Employment and adolescent alcohol and drug treatment and recovery: an exploratory study.

Studies of adolescents in the general population show that most high school students are employed and that there is a positive linear relationship between hours worked and increases in alcohol and other drug use. Mixed methods are used to examine the relationship of employment for adolescents who are in outpatient substance abuse treatment to their use, treatment experiences, and recovery. Several theories offered to explain the relationship between adolescent employment and substance use were examined.

Adolescent and parent perceptions of outpatient substance abuse treatment: a qualitative study.

This exploratory study used in-depth interviews with 12 adolescent participants and four parents to describe their perceptions of outpatient substance abuse treatment. Adolescents found treatment to be different than they had expected, expressed preferences for different session formats (group, individual, family), and defined treatment success in different ways than their parents. There were no common themes regarding what adolescents and parents liked best or least about treatment.

Comparing outcomes of best-practice and research-based outpatient treatment protocols for adolescents.

Comparisons of well-developed practice-based interventions with research-based interventions are rare. This quasi-experimental study compares the outcomes of 274 adolescents (75% male; 63% weekly+ users; 54% dependent; 27% prior treatment; 73% with co-occurring problems) who received Chestnut Health System's best-practice Outpatient Treatment (CHS) or Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) research-based interventions. Ninety-five percent of participants completed follow-up interviews at three, six, nine, and 12 months after their intake GAIN interview.

Preliminary outcomes from the assertive continuing care experiment for adolescents discharged from residential treatment.

In many treatment systems, adolescents referred to residential treatment have the most serious alcohol or other substance use disorders and are at high risk of relapse. Upon discharge, these adolescents are typically referred to continuing care services, however, linkage to these services is often problematic. In this study, 114 adolescents (76% male) who stayed at least 7 days in residential treatment were randomly assigned to receive either usual continuing care (UCC) or UCC plus an assertive continuing care protocol (ACC) involving case management and the adolescent community reinforcement approach.