According to U.S. national data, in 2019, 24% of eighth graders reported alcohol use and 14% reported cannabis use. Among twelfth graders, rates were more than twice as high. These adolescents are at risk for far-reaching adverse outcomes, as engagement in substance abuse at an early age can lead to increased risk of negative health outcomes and moreover, persist into adulthood. In order to identifying effective early interventions for adolescent alcohol and cannabis use that can be easily used in primary care settings, Brown University researchers conducted a meta-analysis of behavioral interventions designed to address this dire public health issue.
The study, led by Dr. Dale Steele, professor of emergency medicine, pediatrics, and health services, policy and practice, with colleagues in the Brown University School of Public Health, was published in the journal Pediatrics. The research team screened over thirty-three thousand records and citations for interventions in adolescents with at least problematic substance use, retrieved over eighteen-hundred articles, and selected twenty-two randomized controlled trials of brief interventions meeting eligibility criteria for meta-analysis. The interventions were then categorized into components, including motivational interviewing, psychoeducation, and treatment as usual. The team then analyzed substance-related problem scales and assessed strength of evidence. Their findings suggest that, when compared to treatment as usual, the use of motivational interviewing reduces heavy alcohol use, alcohol use days, and substance use-related problems in adolescents. Brief motivational interviewing did not reduce cannabis use days however. According to the study authors, “given the ubiquity of cannabis use in adolescents, there is a vital need for additional research to identify effective interventions targeting problematic cannabis use by adolescents in primary, urgent, and emergency care settings.”
With the extensive negative consequences of adolescent substance use, an urgent need exists to identify effective intervention strategies. The authors hope their findings “lend further support to calls for wider implementation of motivational interviewing for adolescents with problematic alcohol use in primary care settings.”