Martial Arts as Early Intervention for Teen Drug Abuse

June 18, 2013 updated by: University of Colorado, Denver

This is a Stage 1A/1B behavioral therapy development project with the aim of developing and piloting an early intervention based upon traditional martial arts for adolescents who are in the early stages of substance use/misuse.

The primary aims of this study are:

1) To develop a manualized version of an existing, typical traditional martial arts program, modified to target a reduction in substance use and the associated behavioral and psychosocial problems for adolescents in the early stages of substance use or misuse, based on principles derived from empirically-based prevention programs. 2) To obtain preliminary pilot data on recruitment feasibility, validity of assessments, and estimates of the effect size of the intervention in reducing substance use and improving prosocial behavioral and psychosocial outcomes. 3) To refine and further develop the manualized program based on pilot data and utilizing feedback from the initial cohort of participants, traditional martial arts program instructors and substance abuse treatment experts. The goals of these revisions would be to maximize the impact of the program on substance use and behavioral outcomes, while retaining the core features of a traditional martial arts program to ensure the feasibility of implementing, sustaining, and disseminating such a program in existing community-based martial arts programs. 4) To develop procedures for training interventionists (i.e., martial arts instructors and research assistants) and for monitoring program adherence to ensure fidelity. 5) To conduct a small pilot study of the refined manualized program to enable us to estimate the effect size of the intervention and provide information for estimating power for a larger randomized controlled trial should the results of this intervention prove promising in terms of positive impact on the primary and secondary outcome measures: decreased drug use and improvement in psychosocial functioning and behavioral problems (including aggression).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

31

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Colorado
      • Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80045
        • University of Colorado Denver

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

13 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Subjects must: 1) be 13 through 17 years old, 2) be of estimated average intelligence (IQ>80), 3) have current or recent drug/alcohol use as evidenced by a history of substance use of at least 2 times in the 12 weeks prior to study inclusion, and 4) be medically healthy.

Exclusion Criteria:

Subjects will be excluded if they 1) meet criteria for substance dependence (other than for nicotine) based on consensus between the Composite International Diagnostic Interview- Substance Abuse Model (CIDI-SAM) and clinical interview, 2) have a history of or currently have psychosis (not explained by drug use), or bipolar disorder that is currently unstable, 3) are currently receiving psychotherapy or some form of behavioral therapy, 4) have a chronic medical illness or condition that would keep them from fully participating in physical activity, 5) have been started on a psychotropic medication in the 30 days prior to study inclusion, or 6) are pregnant.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Modified traditional martial arts training
Twice weekly hour-long training sessions. Classes will not vary significantly from those classes already taught at the karate school, with the following exceptions: 1) the focus of training will be primarily on the non-combative components of martial arts training, 2) there will be a higher instructor to student ratio, 3) belt advancement will be based not only on mastery of karate techniques, but also on achieving the predetermined goals as described above, and 4) weekly 5-10 minute talks will be delivered by the primary instructor and will consist of concepts relevant to substance abuse treatment (including both issues directly relating to drug use and the common skills deficits seen in "at risk" youth) and how these issues relate to martial arts concepts.
Behavioral: Modified traditional martial arts training
Twice weekly hour-long training sessions. Classes will not vary significantly from those classes already taught at the karate school, with the following exceptions: 1) the focus of training will be primarily on the non-combative components of martial arts training, 2) there will be a higher instructor to student ratio, 3) belt advancement will be based not only on mastery of karate techniques, but also on achieving the predetermined goals as described above, and 4) weekly 5-10 minute talks will be delivered by the primary instructor and will consist of concepts relevant to substance abuse treatment (including both issues directly relating to drug use and the common skills deficits seen in "at risk" youth) and how these issues relate to martial arts concepts.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in substance use
Time Frame: end of trial
end of trial

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in psychosocial functioning and behavioral problems
Time Frame: end of trial
end of trial

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Colorado, Denver

Collaborators

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Robert Davies, MD, University of Colorado, Denver

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 10, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 10, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

August 11, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 20, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2013

Last Verified

June 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 05-0681
  • R01DA018679 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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