Enhancing Juvenile Drug Court Outcomes With Evidence-Based Practices

Juvenile drug courts were developed in response to a perceived need to intervene more effectively with youth with substance abuse problems. Close collaboration between the court and substance abuse treatment provider is a defining component of the drug court model and is critical to helping youth achieve positive outcomes. Despite the proliferation of juvenile drug courts in recent years, however, evaluation of their capacity to reduce offender substance use and criminal activity has lagged. Moreover, the Institute of Medicine (IOM, 1998) and leading experts (McLellan, Carise, & Kleber, 2003) have presented a bleak picture of the nation's capacity to meet the treatment needs of substance abusing individuals. Although community-based programs provide the backbone of substance abuse treatment in the nation, their capabilities have not kept up with major scientific advances in the development and validation of evidence-based substance abuse interventions.

Building on our research findings and experience regarding juvenile drug court outcomes as well as the transport of evidence-based practices to community treatment settings, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a relatively flexible and low cost strategy for enhancing the outcomes of juvenile drug courts by integrating components of evidence-based treatments into existing substance abuse services.

Specifically, this project aims to:

Aim 1: Adapt existing intervention and training protocols from evidence-based practices (i.e., Contingency Management for adolescent substance abuse; family engagement strategies from evidence-based treatments of juvenile offenders) for integration into juvenile drug court sites.

Aim 2: Conduct a study to examine youth (e.g., substance use and criminal behavior) and system level (e.g., intervention adherence, feasibility, retention and completion rates, consumer satisfaction, cost estimates) effects of implementing the intervention protocols in juvenile drug courts.

Aim 3: Revise the intervention and training protocols in preparation for a Stage II study if findings are supportive.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Adolescent Substance Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Contingency Management-Family Engagement (CM-FAM); Other: Usual Services (US)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 172
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • South Carolina
    • Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29425
      • Medical University of South Carolina

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Juvenile Drug Court-involved youth
• Fluency in English

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CM-FAM	Behavioral: Contingency Management-Family Engagement (CM-FAM); Evidence-based outpatient intervention for adolescent substance use
Active Comparator: US	Other: Usual Services (US); Typical community-based substance abuse treatment services

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Substance Use	Quarterly for up to 1 year post-baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Delinquency	Quarterly for up to 1 year post-baseline
Intervention Fidelity	Monthly for up to 1 year post-baseline
Cost Estimates	Annually for 4 years
Consumer Satisfaction	Bi-annually for 4 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Scott W Henggeler, Ph.D., Medical University of South Carolina

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Tuerk EH, McCart MR, Henggeler SW. Collaboration in family therapy. J Clin Psychol. 2012 Feb;68(2):168-78. doi: 10.1002/jclp.21833.
• Henggeler SW, McCart MR, Cunningham PB, Chapman JE. Enhancing the effectiveness of juvenile drug courts by integrating evidence-based practices. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2012 Apr;80(2):264-75. doi: 10.1037/a0027147. Epub 2012 Feb 6.
• McCart MR, Henggeler SW, Chapman JE, Cunningham PB. System-level effects of integrating a promising treatment into juvenile drug courts. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2012 Sep;43(2):231-43. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2011.10.030. Epub 2011 Dec 5.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2007
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2012
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 18, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 22, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): December 24, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): June 18, 2013
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 17, 2013
• Last Verified: May 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Substance Use; Contingency Management; Delinquency; Juvenile Drug Court; Family Engagement
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 019892; R01DA019892 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)