Some promising
results out of the University
of Minnesota’s Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research: brief
interventions can help students aged 12-18 dramatically reduce their substance
use – in as few as 2 sessions. The team, led by clinical psychologist Ken
Winters, PhD, Tamara Fahnhorst, MPH, and Andria Botzet, M Ed., implemented a
randomized controlled trial in an urban public school system, delivering one of
two treatment conditions, plus a control. The first, student-only condition
delivered two one-hour therapy sessions in a two-week period; the second added
a session with the parent(s) of the student. The results are impressive: while
37% of the control group reported avoiding cannabis during the last three
months at the 6-month follow-up, 63% of the parent-group and over 50% of the
student-only group reported the same.
See a complete
rundown at Drug
and Alcohol Findings or check the Journal
of Substance Abuse Treatment for the abstract.
