A Social Network AOD Intervention for Homeless Youth Transitioning to Housing

This project will pilot test a computer-assisted social network intervention, using motivational interviewing techniques, that can help case managers work with formerly homeless young adults who recently transitioned to supportive housing to reduce substance use and increase permanent supportive connections during this critical transitional period.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Substance Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Motivational Network Intervention; Other: Usual Care

Detailed Description

The goal of this study is to conduct a pilot evaluation of a motivational network intervention (MNI) to reduce substance use and strengthen supportive connections for recently homeless 18-25 year-olds who have transitioned to a housing program. The goal of this pilot study is to evaluate, through a small randomized controlled trial (Stage 1b), the added benefit of incorporating the MNI into case management for transitional age youth (TAY) residents of housing programs. We hypothesized that residents receiving the MNI as part of case management would show more positive changes in their substance use behaviors and the composition and structure of their personal networks (i.e., greater proportion of network members who are low-risk) over a 3-month follow-up period compared to residents receiving usual case management only.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 39
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Burbank, California, United States, 90512
      • The Village Family Services

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 25 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18-25
• In a housing program for homeless transition age youth
• Past month substance use
• Screen positive for past-year harmful substance use

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not able to speak/understand English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; The intervention will consist of four sessions spaced two weeks apart that will last approximately 30 minutes each and consist of two parts: a network interview to capture network data about the time period since their last interview and a discussion of a resulting network visualization conducted in a motivational interviewing style. Participants will receive the intervention as part of existing case management.	Behavioral: Motivational Network Intervention; Every 2 weeks, residents attend meetings with their case manager. These meetings are customized to the needs of the resident at the time of the meeting. Participants randomized into the Motivational Network Intervention arm are offered an additional discussion about their social networks. Case managers ask participants to answer a series of standardized questions about people they know. After these questions are answered, case managers show participants a series of images representing these answers. While showing these images, case mangers engage the participant in discussions about what they notice using Motivational Interviewing techniques. The goal is to discuss what the participant wants to change and state strategies about achieving these changes.
Active Comparator: Usual Care; As part of residency, participants receive regular case management meetings.	Other: Usual Care; Residents attend regular case management meetings with their case managers as a condition of their residency in the housing program. These sessions are customized do the needs of the resident at the time of the meeting. Participants randomized into the usual care arm will be offered these sessions every 2 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Days Cannabis Used	Count of days that respondent used cannabis in the past 30 days	30 days
Proportion of Risky Network Members	Proportion of network members who engaged in substance use or the participant used more substances when they were with the network member.	4 weeks
Number of Drinks Consumed on Drinking Days	Participants reported on the typical number of drinks they consumed on drinking days in the past month.	30 days
Number of Drinking Days	Number of days in the past month (0-30) that participants reported engaging in any alcohol use.	30 days
Number of Days Consumed 5 (for Men) or 4 (for Women) Drinks on a Single Occasion	Number of days in the past month (0-30) that participants reported engaging in heavy alcohol use (5 or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women on a single occasion).	30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: RAND
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Kennedy DP, Osilla KC, Tucker JS. Feasibility of a computer-assisted social network motivational interviewing intervention to reduce substance use and increase supportive connections among emerging adults transitioning from homelessness to housing. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2022 May 3;17(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s13722-022-00307-4.
• Tucker JS, Kennedy DP, Osilla KC, Golinelli D. Motivational network intervention to reduce substance use and increase supportive connections among formerly homeless emerging adults transitioning to housing: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2021 Mar 16;16(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13722-021-00227-9.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 9, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 10, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 19, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): November 20, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 22, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 30, 2024
• Last Verified: September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: RHINO Study ID: 2018-0539; R34DA047502 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

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