PURSUIT: A Technologically Augmented School-based Program to Improve Child Coping and Prevent Substance Use.

May 5, 2026 updated by: Natoshia Cunningham, Michigan State University
The study investigators aim to test an online support platform for Michigan youth aged 8-18 years enrolled in elementary, middle, or high school and their parent/caregiver. The online support platform will be hosted on the Computerized Intervention Authoring System (CIAS) 3.0 and will provide evidence-based cognitive behavioral coping skills for physical (pain) and mental (stress, mood) health symptoms, with additional substance use prevention content for youth aged 12 and older. Evaluations will occur at baseline and then a post assessment approximately 8 weeks later.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study investigator's aims are to:

  1. Evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the PURSUIT online support platform using mixed methods.
  2. Explore the impact of PURSUIT on youth's physical (pain) and mental health (stress, anxiety, mood, perceived risk of substance use) symptoms at post assessment.

Consented youth will complete a baseline assessment (week 1), and then will use the PURSUIT online platform (expected duration is 6 week), and complete a post assessment (week 8).

Within the PURSUIT platform, all youth will have access to tools teaching cognitive-behavioral strategies for managing mood, anxiety, stress, and physical pain. Youth aged 12 and older will have access to additional content presenting cognitive-behavioral strategies for reducing the risk of substance use.

Youth will provide data on their symptoms (e.g thoughts, mood, behaviors, sleep, pain, and stress) at baseline and post assessment. A caregiver will report on the child's demographics, adverse childhood experience (ACE) exposure, school performance/attendance and their own mood. At post-assessment, the youth will also be asked to take part in a brief, semi-structured interview regarding their experiences with PURSUIT.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

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 Contact

  • Name: Natoshia R Cunningham, PhD
  • Phone Number: 845-662-6198
  • Email: natoshia@msu.edu

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, 49503
        • Michigan State University

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

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged eight to 18 years
  • Enrolled in a Michigan elementary, middle, or high school

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age under 8
  • Age over 18 years
  • Non-enrollment in A Michigan school.

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: PURSUIT Self-Management Portal
All youth enrolled in the study will have access to an online self-management platform, hosted by the Computerized Intervention Authoring System (CIAS). The self-management platform comprises evidence-based cognitive-behavioral psycho-education and skills broadly applicable to physical (pain) and mental (stress, mood) health symptoms. Youth aged twelve and older will have access to content related to preventing substance use. Materials include instructional videos, handouts, and worksheets.
Behavioral: PURSUIT
PURSUIT is an online self-management platform for youth aged 8-18 and one caregiver that provides cognitive-behavioral coping skills for physical and mental health symptoms, plus substance use prevention content for youth aged 12 and older.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PURSUIT Feasibility-Youth Retention
Time Frame: From baseline to post assessment, approximately 8 weeks
The percentage of youth who complete a post-assessment measure, relative to those who complete a baseline assessment.
From baseline to post assessment, approximately 8 weeks
PURSUIT Feasibility/Acceptability
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Youth will complete a brief, semi-structured interview following a six-week period of engagement with the online self-management portal to assess the feasibility ("Do you think you will be able to integrate these skills into your schedule with school/work?") and acceptability of PURSUIT.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in pain, as measured by the Pain Visual Analog Scale (VAS)
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Youth will report their average pain intensity over the past two weeks using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Responses range from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst imaginable pain), with ratings ≥ 3 indicating moderate pain.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Change in functional disability, measured using the Functional Disability Inventory (FDI)
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
The 15-item FDI assesses youths' difficulty performing tasks across home, school, recreational, and social settings over the "past few days" due to physical symptoms. Items are rated from 0 ("no trouble") to 4 ("impossible") and summed, yielding total scores of 0-60 with scores ≥7 suggesting greater than minimal disability
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Changes in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD), measured using the UCLA Reaction Index for DSM-5 Brief Screening Form
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
The UCLA Reaction Index for DSM-5 Brief Screening Form is an 11-item measure of how often youth experienced psychological stress and physiological reactivity due to internal or external trauma reminders, intrusive trauma-related memories, avoidance of internal and external reminders of trauma, emotional dysregulation, attention issues, feelings of detachment, and sleep disturbance over the past month. Items are scored from zero (none of the time) to four (most of the time) and summed; scores of 11-20 suggest mild PTSD symptoms, while scores ≥21 are indicative of potential PTSD. We adapted this measure to not query the type of traumatic exposure experienced by youth. It will only be completed by those who endorse exposure (yes/no) to a frightening or upsetting event.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Change in anxiety symptoms, measured using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED)
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
The 41-item Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) assesses past 3-month anxiety symptoms. Items are scored on a 3-point Likert-style scale (0 = not true or hardly ever true, 2=very true or often true), and summed to yield total scores of 0-82 with higher scores indicating greater anxiety and scores ≥25 suggesting clinical significance.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Change in depressive symptoms, measured using the PROMIS Pediatric Short Form 8a
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Youth will report the frequency (1=never, 5=almost always) of past-week depressive symptoms (e.g., sadness, loneliness) using the eight-item PROMIS Pediatric Depressive Symptoms Short Form 8a. Raw summed scores (range 8 to 40) are converted to T-scores (mean 50, standard deviation 10), with T-scores >55 suggesting mild or higher symptoms.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Change in fatigue symptoms; as measured by the PROMIS Pediatric Short Form 10a
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Past week fatigue symptoms will be self-reported by youth using the 10-item PROMIS Pediatric Short Form. Items ("Being tired made it hard for me to play or go out with my friends as much as I'd like") are rated on a 5-point Likert-style scale (1=never, 5=almost always) and summed in to total scores, which are converted into T-scores (>55 suggesting at least mild symptoms).
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Change in sleep disturbance symptoms, measured using the PROMIS Pediatric Sleep Disturbance Short Form 8a
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks
The frequency (1=never, 5=almost always) with which youth experienced sleep disturbance symptoms (e.g., trouble falling or staying asleep) in the past week will be assessed using the eight-item PROMIS Pediatric Sleep Disturbance Short Form. T-scores (>55 indicative of mild or greater symptoms) will be derived from summed raw scores.
From baseline to post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks
Change in youths' perceived risk of substance use; measured using Monitoring The Future items
Time Frame: From baseline through post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks.
Youth age 12 and older will report how risky (1= No Risk, 4=Great Risk) they perceive different cigarette, cannabis, alcohol, or vaping use behaviors (e.g., occasional versus regular use) using 12 items from the 2023 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. MTF is an ongoing longitudinal panel study conducted by the University of Michigan that includes annual surveys of nationally representative samples of 8th, 10,th and 12th grade youth.
From baseline through post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks.
Change in youth's substance use behaviors; assessed using the Screening to Brief Intervention (S2B1)
Time Frame: From baseline through post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks.
The frequency (never, once or twice, monthly, weekly or more often) of past-year nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, and other substance use behaviors will be assessed for youth 12 years and older using the youth-reported Screening to Brief Intervention (S2BI)
From baseline through post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks.
Changes in caregivers' depression, anxiety, and stress as measured by the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales 21 (DASS21)
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
The DASS21 depression, anxiety, and stress on a scale of 0-63 with 0 indicating low levels of these feelings, and 63 indicating high levels. This measure will only be completed by caregivers.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks.
Change in stress, measured by the PROMIS Pediatric Psychological Stress Experiences 8a
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks
Youth will report how often (1=never, 5=almost always) they experienced feelings of stress over the past week using the eight-item PROMIS Psychological Stress Experiences-Short Form 8a. As per other PROMIS short forms, summed scores are converted to T-scores.
From baseline to post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Youth Engagement
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks
The percent of youth who complete at least one activity within the platform, relative to those who complete baseline assessments.
From baseline to post-assessment, approximately 8 weeks
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Time Frame: Baseline
Youth's lifetime exposure to nine ACEs (e.g., violence, household dysfunction) will be reported by caregivers (if age <18) using items adapted from the National Survey of Children's Health.
Baseline
Family Demographic Information
Time Frame: Baseline
Parents/caregivers will report youths' age, sex at birth, racial and ethnic identities, household income, health insurance status/type, and their own highest level of education at baseline.
Baseline
Youth School Attendance
Time Frame: From baseline to post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks
Parent/caregivers will report the frequency with which their child misses or is late to school due to physical and/or mental health symptoms over the past month at baseline and after engaging with the self-management platform
From baseline to post-assessment; approximately 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Michigan State University

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 (Estimated)

May 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 24, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 24, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

December 5, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 5, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00011346
  • G-2404-153994 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Michigan Health Endowment Fund)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

We will not publicly share to protect participant identities but de-identified data may be made available upon reasonable request.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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.

Clinical Trials on Stress

Clinical Trials on PURSUIT

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Montenegro

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe