Using Technology to Reduce Youth Substance Use (TEXT2)

The research project will focus on conducting a trial of whether a tailored SMS text-messaging intervention is efficacious in improving justice-involved youths' substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Drug Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: SMS Text Messaging; Behavioral: Standard of Care Engagement Practices

Detailed Description

The study will demonstrate how delivery of motivational/coaching messages to justice-involved youth and their caregivers will lead to greater youth substance use treatment attendance and engagement. The study will start with identifying the feasibility and acceptability of the SMS text-messaging intervention with community-supervised justice-involved youth. Then, the study will determine whether the tailored dyadic (youth and caregiver) SMS text-messaging intervention improves justice-involved youth substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement relative to standard of care (not receiving motivational/coaching messages). Finally, the study will characterize patterns of key justice and behavioral health system-level factors that promote or hinder eventual adoption and sustainability of mHealth technology as a tool to improve treatment attendance for justice-involved youth.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 162
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Evan Holloway, PhD; Phone Number: 415-613-8490; Email: Evan.Holloway@ucsf.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Marina Tolou-Shams, PhD; Phone Number: 628-206-2212; Email: marina.tolou-shams@ucsf.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94131
      • Recruiting
      • UCSF Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
      • Contact: Marina Tolou-Shams, PhD; Phone Number: 628-206-2212; Email: marina.tolou-shams@ucsf.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 11 years to 16 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• English-speaking youth with willing adult caregiver
• Ages 13-18
• Justice-involved while living in the community
• Own a mobile phone or tablet
• Are willing to send and receive text messages
• Are referred to community-based substance use and/or mental health treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: SMS Text Messaging; SMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days to encourage attendance at community-based substance use or dual diagnosis treatment appointments through motivational messages.	Behavioral: SMS Text Messaging; SMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days to promote attendance at community-based substance use or dual diagnosis treatment appointments through motivational messages.
Active Comparator: Standard of Care Engagement Practices; Standard of care engagement practices, such as communicating with youth and caregivers, as needed, through texting but frequency of contact and content of messaging varies according to individual needs.	Behavioral: Standard of Care Engagement Practices; Standard of care engagement practices, such as communicating with youth and caregivers, as needed, through texting but frequency of contact and content of messaging varies according to individual needs.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Treatment session attendance	Proportion of treatment sessions attended	30 days post baseline
Treatment session attendance	Proportion of treatment sessions attended	60 days post baseline
Treatment session attendance	Proportion of treatment sessions attended	90 days post baseline
Treatment session attendance	Proportion of treatment sessions attended	120 days post baseline
Treatment session attendance	Proportion of treatment sessions attended	180 days post baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
First treatment session initiation	Proportion who attended first treatment session, as scheduled	120 days post baseline
First treatment session initiation	Proportion who attended first treatment session, as scheduled	180 days post baseline

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Alcohol use	The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) alcohol use.	90 days post baseline
Alcohol use	The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) alcohol use.	180 days post baseline
Drug use	The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) cannabis and other drug use.	90 days post baseline
Drug use	The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) cannabis and other drug use.	180 days post baseline
Drug Use	The Texas Christian University (TCU) Drug Screen with Opioid Supplement is used to gather detailed information about drug and opioid use.	90 days post baseline
Drug Use	The Texas Christian University (TCU) Drug Screen with Opioid Supplement is used to gather detailed information about drug and opioid use.	180 days post baseline
Response rate to SMS messages	Digital (mobile) health metrics	30 days post baseline
Response rate to SMS messages	Digital (mobile) health metrics	60 days post baseline
Response rate to SMS messages	Digital (mobile) health metrics	90 days post baseline
Psychiatric symptoms	Global Appraisal of Individual Needs-Short Screener (GAIN-SS) is used to identify people with recent and lifetime internalizing and externalizing mental health disorders, substance use disorders and crime/violence problems. GAIN-SS responses are given in terms of the recency of the problem described in the questions: 3 = past month; 2 = 2 to 12 months ago; 1 = 1+ years ago; 0 = never. The number of past-month symptoms (number of 3s) is used as a measure of change; the number of past-year symptoms (number of 3s or 2s) is used to identify who is likely to have a current diagnosis; and the number of lifetime symptoms (number of 3s, 2s, or 1s) is used as a covariate measure of lifetime severity.	90 days post baseline
Psychiatric symptoms	Global Appraisal of Individual Needs-Short Screener (GAIN-SS) is used to identify people with recent and lifetime internalizing and externalizing mental health disorders, substance use disorders and crime/violence problems. GAIN-SS responses are given in terms of the recency of the problem described in the questions: 3 = past month; 2 = 2 to 12 months ago; 1 = 1+ years ago; 0 = never. The number of past-month symptoms (number of 3s) is used as a measure of change; the number of past-year symptoms (number of 3s or 2s) is used to identify who is likely to have a current diagnosis; and the number of lifetime symptoms (number of 3s, 2s, or 1s) is used as a covariate measure of lifetime severity.	180 days post baseline
Therapeutic Alliance	The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is used to assess youth's perception of therapeutic alliance (with treatment provider) over time. Scores range from 12 to 84 with higher scores indicating greater perceived therapeutic alliance.	30 days post baseline
Therapeutic Alliance	The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is used to assess youth's perception of therapeutic alliance (with treatment provider) over time. Scores range from 12 to 84 with higher scores indicating greater perceived therapeutic alliance.	60 days post baseline
Therapeutic Alliance	The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is used to assess youth's perception of therapeutic alliance (with treatment provider) over time. Scores range from 12 to 84 with higher scores indicating greater perceived therapeutic alliance.	90 days post baseline
Therapeutic Alliance	The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is used to assess youth's perception of therapeutic alliance (with treatment provider) over time. Scores range from 12 to 84 with higher scores indicating greater perceived therapeutic alliance.	120 days post baseline
Therapeutic Alliance	The Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) is used to assess youth's perception of therapeutic alliance (with treatment provider) over time. Scores range from 12 to 84 with higher scores indicating greater perceived therapeutic alliance.	180 days post baseline
Treatment Motivation	The Motivation for Youth's Treatment Scale (MYTS) is used to measure intrinsic treatment motivation.	30 days post baseline
Treatment Motivation	The Motivation for Youth's Treatment Scale (MYTS) is used to measure intrinsic treatment motivation.	60 days post baseline
Treatment Motivation	The Motivation for Youth's Treatment Scale (MYTS) is used to measure intrinsic treatment motivation.	90 days post baseline
Treatment Motivation	The Motivation for Youth's Treatment Scale (MYTS) is used to measure intrinsic treatment motivation.	120 days post baseline
Treatment Motivation	The Motivation for Youth's Treatment Scale (MYTS) is used to measure intrinsic treatment motivation.	180 days post baseline
Characteristics of Communication and Interaction with Probation Officers and Treatment Providers	Questions on communication characteristics will identify the preferred modes and patterns of communication between caregivers/youth and probation officers/treatment providers.	30 days post baseline
Characteristics of Communication and Interaction with Probation Officers and Treatment Providers	Questions on communication characteristics will identify the preferred modes and patterns of communication between caregivers/youth and probation officers/treatment providers.	60 days post baseline
Characteristics of Communication and Interaction with Probation Officers and Treatment Providers	Questions on communication characteristics will identify the preferred modes and patterns of communication between caregivers/youth and probation officers/treatment providers.	90 days post baseline
Characteristics of Communication and Interaction with Probation Officers and Treatment Providers	Questions on communication characteristics will identify the preferred modes and patterns of communication between caregivers/youth and probation officers/treatment providers.	120 days post baseline
Characteristics of Communication and Interaction with Probation Officers and Treatment Providers	Questions on communication characteristics will identify the preferred modes and patterns of communication between caregivers/youth and probation officers/treatment providers.	180 days post baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Marina Tolou-Shams, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 7, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 22, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): June 25, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 26, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 21, 2023
• Last Verified: December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Adolescent; mHealth; text messaging; Substance use; Juvenile justice
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1K24DA046569-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No