The Development of a Brief Parent-Child Substance Use Educational Intervention for Black Families

The purpose of this study is to adapt a racial-specific parent-child substance use education intervention for Black families in Paterson and East Orange, New Jersey which can promote family bonding, communication, and supervision, as well as acknowledging racial and ethnic specific norms, values, and pride. The adaptation of this intervention will be designed based on the needs of Black parents and their children and direct input from them as stakeholders.

Study Overview

• Status: Suspended
• Conditions: Substance Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: ADAPT-ITT

Detailed Description

The study is a formative qualitative study design with the intention of using findings for the adaptation and evidence-based intervention.

Study Approach: Using the ADAPT-ITT approach, we seek to first consult with Black families and stakeholders in cities that include a large population of Black people in Paterson and East Orange, New Jersey such as to understand their unique challenges in discussing substance use with their children while also seeking their guidance on the development of a racial specific substance use parent-child intervention. The investigator will use a proactive rather than a reactive approach to recruit study participants. A proactive approach brings project staff into direct contact with potential participants. This typically involves face-to-face contact with community leaders and organizations, as well as recruitment presentations and meetings in the community.

Aim 1: Collect qualitative data from Black parents and youth between the ages of 10-17 years from (n=20) parent-child dyads on the challenges, barriers, and facilitators to communicating about substance use. Recruitment will take place with partnership of community-based organizations and supportive family programs. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with adolescents and their parents to solicit their perspectives on identifiable strategies that have worked to discuss substance use within their family, barriers and facilitators to effective prevention programs, and specific community and cultural norms regarding youth substance use. Interviews will be conducted separately where youth will be included in one focus group and interview and parents will be in a separate focus group and interview. This is done to allow for youth and parents to feel comfortable in sharing challenges pertaining to substance use prevention education.

Aim 2: Adapt a family and community-based substance use prevention intervention for Black youth and families in Paterson and East Orange, NJ. Using the ADAPT-ITT implementation framework, Phase 1 and 2 which include a family and community advisory board (consisting of three parent-child dyads and 3 community leaders) will be developed to guide the adaptation of the intervention. The proposed adapted intervention will build upon evidence-based parent-adolescent interventions such as the Strong African American Families-Teen (SAAF-T) and The Family Check Up.

Aim 2a: Phase 3 of ADAPT-ITT includes theater testing involving the family and community advisory board which will be responsible in reviewing the adapted interventions and providing feedback.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Jersey
    • Paterson, New Jersey, United States, 07501
      • Oasis

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 11 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Identify as a Black/African American
• Children aged between 11-17
• Assent to being a part of the study
• Live in Paterson, New Jersey at the time of the study or Live in East Orange, NJ
• English as their first language.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Do not identify as Black/African American
• Do not assent to being a part of the study
• Does not live in Paterson, New Jersey or East Orange at the time of the study
• Does not read, speak or write in English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: ADAPT-ITT guided implementation and adaptation; ADAPT-ITT is an implementation science framework that guides the adaptation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) for specific settings or populations. ADAPT-ITT will be used to adapt the target interventions in partnership with a Family and Community Advisory Board, consisting of parents, caregivers, and leaders of family-based organizations in New Jersey.

Behavioral: ADAPT-ITT; ADAPT-ITT is an implementation framework that guides adaptation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) for specific settings/populations. It will be used to adapt target interventions with a Family and Community Advisory Board. It has 8 phases: (1) Assess the risk profile of Black families in Paterson and East Orange, (2) Adopt or adapt an EBI, (3) Administer novel methods with families and children to facilitate the adaptation process, (4) Plan on what aspects of the EBI need to be adapted/how best to evaluate the adapted EBI, (5) Identify additional experts to assist in the adaptation process, (6) Integrate material from experts to adapt the EBI, (7) Train staff to implement the adapted intervention, and (8) Test the adapted intervention. Given time and financial constraints, five phases will be completed at the end of the pilot study. Qualitative data collected from individual dyad interviews will be used to inform the data.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Improving drug use communication between Black parents and children	Assessed using parent-child drug use communication scales. (This is a formative study that seeks to inform the intervention and the measures are being developed concurrently.)	3 months
Improving drug use communication between Black parents and children	Assessed using child drug use knowledge scale. (This is a formative study that seeks to inform the intervention and the measures are being developed concurrently.)	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ijeoma Opara, PhD LMSW MPH, Yale University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): January 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 7, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 7, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 13, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 22, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2000032674; R24DA051946 (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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No