A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Novel Drug Education and Diversion Program (iDECIDE) for Middle and High School Students

Description

This study will be a two-arm, assessor-blind, randomized controlled trial enrolling approximately 300 middle and high school students who have recently violated a school substance use policy. Participants will be followed over a one-year period. Participants will be randomly assigned to either four-weeks of iDECIDE or a waitlist control group. Participants assigned to receive iDECIDE will receive a drug education curriculum developed to provide behavioral support and psychoeducation via videoconference or in-person visits. The purpose of iDECIDE is to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions regarding substance use. Participants in the waitlist control group will undergo symptom and substance use monitoring only, until completion of the one-month follow-up visit at which point they will be offered the opportunity to enroll in the iDECIDE curriculum, if desired. Data collection will occur during nine visits over the span of approximately one year, including one randomization baseline visit, four weekly visits during the intervention phase of the study during which time participants will participate in either iDECIDE or monitoring, and then four follow-up visits. The follow-up visits will occur at approximately one week, one month, six months, and one year following the end-of-intervention. Participants in both arms will complete questionnaires and assessments conducted by raters blinded to study arm assignment. Primary outcomes (knowledge of drug effects, knowledge of brain development and neurobiology of addiction, readiness to quit, perceptions of harm, and frequency of substance use) will be assessed at visit 1 (baseline), visit 5 (end-of-intervention), visit 6 (one week follow-up), and visit 7 (one month follow-up). Participants will be compensated for session attendance and provision of urine samples.