Concurrent Disorders Clinical Trial
Official title:
CIHR Team in Innovations in Child and Youth Concurrent Disorders: Service Delivery and Treatment Subproject
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness and feasibility of an
integrated treatment approach for youth with concurrent disorders. The combined intervention
will include individual sessions of Motivational Interviewing, followed by inclusion in a
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills-based group.
The following main hypotheses will be examined:
1. Youth with CD who receive an MI intervention will show increased motivation and
readiness to change from pre to post MI intervention.
2. Youth with CD who participate in a DBT intervention (orientation session followed by
12-week DBT skills training group)will show reductions in substance use and
improvements in mental health, coping and affect regulation between pre to post
treatment. The investigators expect that these treatment gains will be maintained at
three-month follow-up.
For this study, the investigators want to treat adolescents with concurrent disorders.
Eligible subjects will be invited to participate in the combined intervention described in
detail below.
In order to determine eligibility, designated research staff will conduct a phone screen
interview with interested youth (ages 14 - 18). Candidates will be asked questions about
their current mental health and substance use status. Based on the information obtained in
this interview, those youth who report co-occurring mental health and substance use problems
will be asked to complete three internet-based self-report questionnaires using a designated
link and unique identification numbers. Once the information from this assessment is
collected and scored by research personnel, those candidates who meet the criteria for this
study will be asked to participate in the remaining portion of the study. These subjects
will be required to meet with the research assistant in person to complete a computer-based
self-administered structured diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires.
If eligible and interested, subjects will be asked to meet with a therapist for one
individual session of MI. These sessions will assess subjects' readiness to engage in
treatment, and help identify treatment goals and any barriers that may make treatment
difficult.
After these sessions, subjects will be invited to attend a DBT-focused orientation prior to
joining the 12-week skills group. The investigators expect to have approximately 8 youth in
each group and each session will run for 2 hours, weekly. The purpose of these group
sessions is to learn skills that will help subjects cope in healthier ways. The following
skills will be taught: (1) interpersonal effectiveness; (2) emotion regulation; (3) distress
tolerance: and (4) mindfulness. The use of skills will be geared to addressing substance use
problems and other mental health issues (e.g. anxiety, depression, self-harm, etc.).
Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires at the following time-points:
screening, baseline, post-MI (2 weeks), mid-DBT (8 weeks), post-DBT (14 weeks), and at 14
weeks follow-up. Participants will be offered financial compensation upon completion of each
assessment package.
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Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Treatment