The Impact of Psychopathic Traits on the Efficacy of a Substance Use Intervention

October 19, 2016 updated by: MarcSwogger, University of Rochester

The Impact of Psychopathic Traits on the Efficacy of a Brief Intervention for Substance Use

Substance use among criminal offenders constitutes a major public health problem and is tied to negative consequences for offenders, their families, and their communities. One of the direst of these consequences is repeated incarceration; thus, interventions that reduce criminal recidivism are needed. Forensic populations are often viewed with considerable therapeutic pessimism. However, offenders exhibit heterogeneity in personality traits, and the assessment of individual differences among offenders may provide valuable information that guides the use of psychotherapeutic interventions. Among offenders, psychopathy has emerged as an important personality construct for the understanding of violence and criminal recidivism. Moreover, core traits of psychopathy such as lack of empathy, deceitfulness, and lack of remorse may have negative implications for the efficacy of psychosocial interventions. A foundational premise of the present work is that understanding the moderating role of psychopathic traits on substance use treatment outcomes among offenders is essential to determining what works, and for whom. The current proposal is a Phase II randomized clinical trial that aims to examine the impact of psychopathic traits on the efficacy of a brief substance use intervention for offenders in a jail diversion program. Hypotheses that will be examined include: 1) that a Motivational Interviewing (MI) - based treatment will reduce substance use and related consequences relative to a Standard Care only condition, 2) that the reduction in substance use in the intervention group will mediate a reduction in later criminal recidivism relative to the Standard Care condition, and 3) that core psychopathic traits will moderate the efficacy of the intervention such that individuals with lower levels of these traits will derive greater benefits with regard to decreased substance use, decreased drug use consequences, and decreased criminal recidivism at a one-year follow-up.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Substance use among criminal offenders constitutes a major public health problem and is tied to negative consequences for offenders, their families, and their communities. One of the direst of these consequences is repeated incarceration; thus, interventions that reduce criminal recidivism are needed. Forensic populations are often viewed with considerable therapeutic pessimism. However, offenders exhibit heterogeneity in personality traits, and the assessment of individual differences among offenders may provide valuable information that guides the use of psychotherapeutic interventions. Among offenders, psychopathy has emerged as an important personality construct for the understanding of violence and criminal recidivism. Moreover, core traits of psychopathy such as lack of empathy, deceitfulness, and lack of remorse may have negative implications for the efficacy of psychosocial interventions. A foundational premise of the present work is that understanding the moderating role of psychopathic traits on substance use treatment outcomes among offenders is essential to determining what works, and for whom. The current proposal is a Phase II randomized clinical trial that aims to examine the impact of psychopathic traits on the efficacy of a brief substance use intervention for offenders in a jail diversion program. Hypotheses that will be examined include: 1) that a Motivational Interviewing (MI) - based treatment will reduce substance use and related consequences relative to a Standard Care only condition, 2) that the reduction in substance use in the intervention group will mediate a reduction in later criminal recidivism relative to the Standard Care condition, and 3) that core psychopathic traits will moderate the efficacy of the intervention such that individuals with lower levels of these traits will derive greater benefits with regard to decreased substance use, decreased drug use consequences, and decreased criminal recidivism at a one-year follow-up. This work has the potential to provide important data regarding which individuals can benefit from a brief intervention for substance use. Such data will inform the effective and efficient allocation of treatment resources for substance using offenders.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

105

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

  • United States
    • New York
      • Rochester, New York, United States, 14642
        • Pretrial Services, Inc.

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • In local pretrial services program; English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychosis, inability to provide informed consent

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: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Standard Care
standard care
Other: standard care
Experimental: brief therapy
motivational enhancement therapy for substance use
Behavioral: motivational enhancement therapy
Four 45-minute MET sessions
Other Names:
  • SBIRT; brief motivational intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percent Days Abstinent Per Month From Drug Use
Time Frame: three to six months post baseline
Using timeline followback data, frequency of substance use was assessed for months three through six and presented as average percent days abstinent per month.
three to six months post baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Shortened Inventory of Problems With Alcohol and Drugs (SIP-AD)
Time Frame: six months
A measure of consequences of drug and alcohol use across several domains (e.g., social, work, health), SIP-AD scores range from 0-45, with higher scores indicating higher levels of substance use consequences.
six months
New Criminal Charge
Time Frame: one year
New criminal charge vs. no new criminal charge at follow-up as indicated by county database.
one year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Rochester

Collaborators

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marc T. Swogger, Ph.D., University of Rochester

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

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

August 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 31, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

February 15, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 12, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 19, 2016

Last Verified

October 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 28780
  • K23DA027720 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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