Brief Voluntary Alcohol and Drug Intervention for Middle School Youth (CHOICE)

July 9, 2014 updated by: RAND
We are currently working in 16 middle schools across Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Torrance to test out a voluntary after school program called Project CHOICE, which focuses on helping students decrease their alcohol and drug use. We are conducting surveys in all schools over three years and providing the intervention in 8 schools in the 2008-2009 school year and in the other 8 schools in the 2011-2012 school year. This is a program we have provided before in middle schools and we found that it was effective in curbing alcohol and drug use among students who voluntarily attended and among all students at the intervention school.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The middle school years are peak years for initiation of alcohol and marijuana (Johnston et al., 2007). Unfortunately, most youth who engage in substance use and experience problems are unlikely to voluntarily make use of formal prevention services (D'Amico, 2005; Johnson et al., 2001; Wu et al., 2003). A small body of recent research suggests that youth may benefit from less formal programs that are brief, voluntary, and easily accessible (Brown, 2001; D'Amico et al., 2005). However, very few intervention programs of this type have been developed (Little and Harris, 2003). Thus, while this approach shows promise, the impact of intervention programs that younger teens may choose to attend has not been extensively examined. One such intervention, Project CHOICE, was developed and tested by the PI using NIAAA funding for developmental work (R21AA13284). Project CHOICE is the only voluntary intervention that has been tested for middle school youth and our small quasi-experimental study has demonstrated its efficacy in one school setting (D'Amico and Edelen, in press; D'Amico et al., 2005). The Project CHOICE intervention addresses several critical gaps in the field, including beginning to understand voluntary service utilization among this age group and assessing how this type of program may impact school-wide use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD). The main objective of the proposed 5-year longitudinal study is to build on our initial work by conducting a more rigorous test of Project CHOICE. The study will include 16 middle schools, located in the ethnically diverse Southern California cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Torrance. These schools will be randomly assigned as intervention (n= 8) or control (n = 8). We will first examine individual-level effects by testing whether Project CHOICE affects AOD-related outcomes among students who participate in the intervention. We will then examine school-level effects by testing whether AOD rates among all students in the intervention schools are affected, regardless of participation. We assume that these school-level effects will be due to changes in the school environment (e.g., Project CHOICE advertising, discussion of Project CHOICE among students, changes in social norms). In anticipation of this school-level impact, a secondary objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of who participates in Project CHOICE, as well as how these participants and changes in the school environment may influence the attitudes and behaviors of those who do not participate. This research incorporates a novel methodology for AOD involvement, as it emphasizes personal self-change efforts and natural recovery and is appealing to both using and non-using youth. The work proposed in this application represents the important next step in this line of research: to more critically evaluate Project CHOICE and its potential impact on both school-wide and individual outcomes with a larger population of youth.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

6455

Phase

  • Phase 2

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

    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States
        • 16 middle schools in Torrance, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles

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

11 years to 15 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria: Adolescents between the ages of 11 and 15 who are currently attending one of 16 selected middle schools across Los Angeles, Torrance, and Santa Monica -

Exclusion Criteria: None

-

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Project CHOICE
Middle school receives Project CHOICE
Voluntary after school program offered 1 day per week for 30 minutes
No Intervention: No Project CHOICE
Middle school does not receive Project CHOICE

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use
Time Frame: 3 years
3 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Substance use-related cognitions
Time Frame: 3 years
3 years

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Elizabeth J. D'Amico, PhD, RAND

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

September 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 3, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

March 5, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 10, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 9, 2014

Last Verified

July 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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