IU med school lands $4.7M grant to study teen alcohol use prevention
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A team from the Indiana University School of Medicine has received a $4.7 million award from a not-for-profit health care research organization to examine how caregiver intervention can reduce teen alcohol use and other substance use disorders.
The funds from the Washington D.C.-based Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute will support research into how primary care providers can help intervene when problems emerge with children, IU said. More than 90% of U.S. children receive care in primary care clinics.
“Alcohol is the most-used substance among adolescents and can lead to several negative outcomes if it isn’t identified and addressed early,” said Zachary Adams, who along with fellow IU associate psychiatry professor Tamika Zapolski are principal investigators on the five-year project. “This funding will allow us to find the most effective and efficient treatment plan to get adolescents the help they need before it becomes a larger issue.”
All youth participating in the study will be offered “Teen Intervene,” a brief intervention that includes motivational interviewing, education, personalized feedback, goal setting, and skills for avoiding alcohol and other substance use problems.
The study will compare three approaches to further caregiver involvement: no caregiver involvement, a dedicated caregiver session, and a self-paced online parenting program.
“This study was selected for PCORI funding for its potential to answer the need for real-world evidence to enable optimal use of brief interventions to reduce and prevent alcohol use among adolescents,” PCORI Executive Director Nakela Cook said in a news release. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with IU School of Medicine to share the results.”