Take it personal! Development and modelling study of an indicated prevention programme for substance use in adolescents and young adults with mild intellectual disabilities and borderline intellectual functioning.

Esmée P Schijven,Jeroen Lammers,Joanneke E L Vandernagel,Evelien A P Poelen,Roy Otten

doi:10.1111/jar.12808

Abstract

BackgroundThis paper describes the theory and development of Take it personal! an indicated prevention programme aimed at reducing substance use in individuals with mild intellectual disabilities and borderline intellectual functioning.MethodThe process of the development of Take it personal! followed the steps of the Intervention Mapping protocol. Take it personal! is based on the theory that personality traits are an important construct to understand substance use (14–30 years old). A small modelling study was conducted with six adolescents to examine the feasibility, user‐friendliness and potential effectiveness of the intervention.ResultsThe results showed that the intervention has good feasibility and user‐friendliness. Post‐intervention evaluation of frequency, binge drinking and problematic use indicated that use was lower than at pre‐intervention.ConclusionsTake it Personal! can be a promising preventive intervention designed to reduce substance use in individuals in this target group. A larger scale study is needed to draw further conclusions.

Highlights

Substance use among individuals with a mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning (MID-BIF; IQ between 50 and 85 and limitations in social adaptive skills; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) is a pressing problem
Studies have shown that substance use is common in adolescents and young adults with MID-BIF, especially among those with behavioural problems and co-morbid psychopathology who are admitted to treatment facilities (VanDerNagel et al, 2017; Van Duijvenbode et al, 2015)
Prevalence rates show that 75%–85% of adolescents with MID-BIF and severe behavioural problems who are admitted to treatment facilities show lifetime alcohol use or use alcohol on a regular basis, and 25%–50% of these adolescents use drugs on an occasional or regular basis

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Substance use among individuals with a mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning (MID-BIF; IQ between 50 and 85 and limitations in social adaptive skills; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) is a pressing problem. Since people with MID-BIF lead more ordinary and less restricted lives than they did a decade ago, they became more atrisk to be exposed to social and environmental pressures encouraging them to adopt behaviours that negatively affect their health, such as exposure to stressful events and alcohol and drugs (Kepper, VanDen Eijnden, Monshouwer, & Vollebergh, 2014; Taggart, McLaughlin, Quinn, & Milligan, 2006) This level of exposure may lead to substance use disorders and related problems (Burgard, Donohue, Azrin, & Teichner, 2000; Kepper et al, 2014; Taggart et al, 2006). Current prevention programmes for adolescents with MIDBIF focus mainly on increasing knowledge of alcohol and drugs and the negative consequences of substance use (Kerr, Lawrence, Darbyshire, Middleton, & Fitzsimmons, 2013; Kiewik, VanDerNagel, Kemna, Engels, & de Jong, 2015). This paper contains an assessment of its feasibility, user-friendliness and potential effectiveness based on the results of a small modelling study

| METHODS

| Design

| Participants and procedure

Objectives

Findings

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