TECH App Marijuana Use Intervention for Court-Involved Adolescents (TECH)

April 24, 2026 updated by: Sarah Helseth, Northwestern University

Development and Preliminary Testing of an Adjunct Smartphone App to Reduce Marijuana Use in Court-Involved, Non-Incarcerated Adolescents

The study is about helping teens who are involved in the court system to cut down or quit using marijuana. Teens may be asked to test out an experimental smartphone app, called TECH, that will be used only by teens in this study. This app is a private online community where teens can work towards changing their substance use and other behavior with the help of other anonymous teens. We will use this information to learn how the app may help teens make a change and to improve the TECH app.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This multiphase study will establish the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a novel smartphone app that leverages both intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms to promote cannabis-related behavior change among CINI youth ages 14-17. The app, Teen Empowerment through Computerized Health (TECH), will be evaluated as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU) at the local family court. Phase 1 (completed Fall 2021) included a series of semi-structured interviews with key individuals, to inform how clinical goals (e.g., reduced cannabis use) will map onto usage goals (e.g., goal-setting, peer networking), features (e.g., expert-moderated forum, notifications) and workflow. Then, Phase 2 (completed Fall 2022) beta tested and iteratively refined the TECH prototype with 10 court-involved, non-incarcerated (CINI) youth. In the current phase of the work, Phase 3, we will conduct a pilot randomized control trial (RCT) with 60 CINI youth to test the TECH app (TAU+TECH) relative to TAU-only.

Specific aims are:

Aim 1. Apply the Behavior Intervention Theory model to develop a user-driven tool (i.e., TECH) that capitalizes on how, why, and when CINI youth would most prefer to engage with a smartphone app to reduce cannabis use.

~Aim 1 was achieved in Phase 1 qualitative interviews with CINI youth, their parents, and behavioral health app developers.

Aim 2. Examine the feasibility and acceptability of the TECH user-driven smartphone app.

~Hypothesis 1 is that TECH will be feasible and acceptable to CINI youth, as measured via enrollment and withdrawal rates, app usage data, and exit interviews. Aim 2 will be achieved through Phase 2 beta testing (n = 10) and Phase 3's pilot RCT (n = 60) with CINI youth.

Aim 3. Test the preliminary efficacy of the TECH smartphone app as an adjunct to TAU (TECH + TAU vs. TAU-only) on cannabis use (primary outcome).

~Hypothesis 2 is that, relative to CINI youth who receive TAU-only, the TAU+TECH group will demonstrate greater reductions in cannabis use. Aim 3 will be achieved via Phase 3's pilot RCT (n = 60 CINI youth).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60614
        • Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60614
        • Rhode Island Hospital
    • Rhode Island
      • Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02912
        • Brown University
      • Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02903
        • Rhode Island Family Court

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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 14 years to 18 years
  • Able to speak and read English
  • Have access to a smartphone
  • Self-report past-year cannabis use
  • If a minor, able to provide parental consent and child assent

Exclusion Criteria for all participants is limited to conditions that would preclude active participation in an intervention study of a mobile app (e.g., psychosis, cognitive impairment, visual impairment).

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: TAU-only
Treatment as usual
Behavioral: Treatment as usual
Treatment as Usual at the local family court, which includes a brief, computerized motivation enhancement intervention. All CINI youth will receive TAU, regardless of condition.
Experimental: TAU + TECH
Treatment as usual, plus TECH app
Behavioral: Treatment as usual
Treatment as Usual at the local family court, which includes a brief, computerized motivation enhancement intervention. All CINI youth will receive TAU, regardless of condition.
Behavioral: Teen Empowerment through Computerized Health (TECH) app
An adjunct smartphone app (i.e., TECH) developed to support TAU. All participants randomly assigned to TAU+TECH will receive the TECH app.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in days of cannabis use (Preliminary Efficacy)
Time Frame: Last 90 days at baseline, and 1-, 3-, and 6-months
Self-report of total days of cannabis use, via Timeline Followback Interview
Last 90 days at baseline, and 1-, 3-, and 6-months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Collaborators

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Brown University
Rhode Island Hospital

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

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 (Actual)

June 21, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 31, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 31, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 7, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 24, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SP0078326
  • K23DA048062 (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

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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