Abstract
PurposeSubstance use disorders and problematic substance use are common problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Brief personalized feedback has been suggested for treatment of alcohol and drug problems and poor mental health. This repeated measurement randomized controlled trial examines the effect of an interactive voice response (IVR) system for assessing stress, depression, anxiety and substance use.MethodsThe IVR system was used twice weekly over 3 months after treatment initiation, with or without addition of a personalized feedback intervention on stress and mental health symptoms. Both IVR assessment only (control group) and IVR assessment including feedback (intervention group) were provided as an add-on to treatment-as-usual procedures (TAU) in outpatient treatment of substance use problems in adolescents and young adults (N = 73).ResultsBy using a mixed models approach, differences in change scores were analyzed over the three-month assessment period. Compared to the control group, the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvement in the Arnetz and Hasson stress score (AHSS, p = 0.019), the total Symptoms Checklist 8 score (SCL-8D, p = 0.037), the SCL-8D anxiety sub-score (p = 0.017), and on a summarized feedback score (p = 0.026), but not on the depression subscale. There were no differences in global substance use scores between the intervention group (feedback on mental health symptoms) and the control group.ConclusionIn conclusion, IVR may be useful for follow-up and repeated interventions as an add-on to regular treatment, and personalized feedback could potentially improve mental health in adolescents and young adults with problematic substance use.
Highlights
Substance use disorders are common in adolescence and young adulthood, with lifetime prevalence rates around 8% for alcohol use disorders and 2–3% for illicit drug use disorders [1, 2]
Stress and mental health problems are associated with substance use [3,4,5], and there is a considerable overlap between substance use and mental health problems [6, 7], as well as between substance use disorders and mental health disorders [8,9,10,11,12]
In a previous report [49] only focusing on treatment retention, the feedback interventions did not significantly improve treatment retention; unplanned dropout was 24% in the intervention group compared to 14% in the control group (P = 0.374)
Summary
Substance use disorders are common in adolescence and young adulthood, with lifetime prevalence rates around 8% for alcohol use disorders and 2–3% for illicit drug use disorders [1, 2]. Self-medication of psychiatric symptoms may be a common pathway to substance use disorders in adolescence [13]. Treatment retention is generally low among adolescents and young adults treated for substance use [14]. Cooccurring conditions increase severity and complicate recovery [15, 16], and this has resulted in recommendations for integrated treatment of substance use disorders and comorbid conditions [17]. Recent reviews [18,19,20] have shown that integrated treatment is a promising approach, the limited number of trials, inconsistent results, and difficulties of integrating with regular substance use treatment, warrant further research
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
