None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
When excessive alcohol or cannabis use occurs at a vulnerable age such as adolescence, the physical, psychological and developmental consequences extend into adulthood. Good level evidence favours brief interventions to prevent harm associated with substance use in a variety of settings. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a brief intervention addressing excessive substance use in reducing the prevalence of excessive substance use in young people consulting family doctors (paediatricians, general practitioners and general internists). Building on the experience of a pilot study in which we developed and successfully tested such a brief intervention in seven family practices in and around Geneva, we have designed a cluster randomised trial in primary care which aims to provide evidence of the effectiveness of this intervention. We hypothesise that the intervention can lead to a 15% reduction in the prevalence of at-risk alcohol and/or cannabis use in this population.
Interventions
Brief (5-10 minutes) one-off preventive intervention in primary care, discussing cannabis and/or alcohol use with young people in the general practice consultation
Sponsors
Department of Community Health and Medicine, University of Geneva
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
15 Years to 24 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
young people consulting family doctors for any health problem
Exclusion criteria
acute illness requiring immediate attention of the physician, severe mental disorder such as psychosis or suicidal thoughts requiring treatment in a specialised setting, drug or alcohol abuse requiring more immediate attention (such as for example alcohol abuse and recent court ruling regarding drunk driving), previous treatment for cannabis or alcohol dependence
Outcome results
None listed