Substance Use Prevention for Youth With Parents in Recovery

Study overview

Risk for substance use disorder (SUD) begins early in the life course. Although preventing and decreasing illicit and nonmedical drug use among youth is an urgent public health priority, there are currently few evidence-based prevention strategies feasible for delivery in the primary care setting. The investigators propose a three-year plan to collect critical pilot data to pilot test and optimize a dyadic intervention that aims to increase family resilience, strengthen coping skills, help families plan for the future, and prevent youth SUD. The 'prototype' for the intervention approach is Family Talk, an evidence-based parent-youth dyadic intervention that can be delivered within the existing infrastructure of the patient-centered medical home. The investigators have made preliminary adaptations to the model in preparation for testing. To prepare for a subsequent efficacy study, a two-arm pilot randomized controlled trial of the intervention with 40 parent-youth dyads to optimize the intervention model will be conducted. The feasibility of the intervention will be evaluated. In addition, empiric estimates of study parameters to inform the planning of a fully powered randomized controlled trial and plausible intervention targets using semi-structured qualitative interviews will be obtained.

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

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Collaborators and Investigators

Brown University,

Caroline J Kistin, MD MSc, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, Brown University School of Public Health

Study Record Dates

2026-03-31