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Short-term intervention programs have potential to reduce teen methamphetamine use
September 05, 2006Brief school- and family-based intervention programs may reduce methamphetamine use among adolescents, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Methamphetamine use reached epidemic proportions in the United States by the mid-1990s, and use among adolescents has decreased but remained prevalent since then, according to background information in the article. The drug can impair social functioning and cause a wide variety of health problems. Teens in small towns and rural areas, including those in the Midwest, have been shown to be at higher risk for methamphetamine use. Because of the devastating consequences, prevention is key, the authors write; however, few studies have assessed the effect of preventive programs on the methamphetamine problem.
Richard L. Spoth, Ph.D., and colleagues at Iowa State University, Ames, conducted two studies of preventive programs involving rural public school students in the Midwest from 1993 to 2004. One program, Preparing for the Drug-Free Years, is a five-session course designed to enhance parent-child interaction and reduce the risk for early drug use. The seven-session Iowa Strengthening Families Program aims to promote healthy interactions among family members.
In the first study, 667 sixth-graders were assigned to a control group (208) or to one of the two programs (238 to Iowa Strengthening Families Program and 221 to Preparing for the Drug-Free Years). Of those, 457 families participated in a follow-up when the children were in 12th grade. In the second study, 679 seventh-graders were also divided into three groups: 226 completed a revised version of the Iowa Strengthening Families Program plus a separate program called Life Skills Training; 231 did Life Skills Training only; and 222 served as controls. In this study, 588 families were followed up in 11th grade and 597 in 12th grade.
Methamphetamine use rates among the control groups were similar to rates found in national surveys-in study one, five students (3.2 percent) of the 156 in the control group had used methamphetamines in the past year at the 12th-grade follow-up. In study two, 10 (5.2 percent) of the 193 control students reported ever having used methamphetamines by 11th grade, including eight (4.2 percent) who had used them in the past year; nine (4.6 percent) reported past-year use at the 12th-grade follow-up.
Preparing for the Drug-Free Years did not significantly reduce methamphetamine use; the Iowa Strengthening Families Program, with or without the Life Skills Training course, produced a statistically significant decrease in both short-term use and lifetime use; and Life Skills Training by itself was effective in addressing lifetime use. At the 12th-grade follow-up for study one, none of the students who had participated in the Iowa Strengthening Families Program and five (3.6 percent) of those participating in Preparing for the Drug-Free Years had used methamphetamines in the past year. In study two, among the students in the 11th grade completing the revised Iowa Strengthening Families Program plus Life Skills Training, one (.5 percent) reported using methamphetamines in the past year or ever using them and four (2.1 percent) reported past-year use in 12th grade; of those who completed Life Skills Training only, 5 (2.5 percent) reported using in the past year when asked in 11th grade and three (1.4 percent) reported using in the past year when asked in 12th grade.
"Given the lack of previous preventive intervention outcome research on methamphetamine use, the results of the current study are welcome, indicating the effectiveness of three of four universal interventions on lifetime or annual methamphetamine use across two randomized studies," the authors write. "It is noteworthy in this context that none of the interventions had content specific to the prevention of methamphetamine use; the observed intervention effects were obtained by addressing general risk and protective factors for drug use associated with family and school environments."
JAMA and Archives Journals
In the first study, 667 sixth-graders were assigned to a control group (208) or to one of the two programs (238 to Iowa Strengthening Families Program and 221 to Preparing for the Drug-Free Years). Of those, 457 families participated in a follow-up when the children were in 12th grade. In the second study, 679 seventh-graders were also divided into three groups: 226 completed a revised version of the Iowa Strengthening Families Program plus a separate program called Life Skills Training; 231 did Life Skills Training only; and 222 served as controls. In this study, 588 families were followed up in 11th grade and 597 in 12th grade.
Methamphetamine use rates among the control groups were similar to rates found in national surveys-in study one, five students (3.2 percent) of the 156 in the control group had used methamphetamines in the past year at the 12th-grade follow-up. In study two, 10 (5.2 percent) of the 193 control students reported ever having used methamphetamines by 11th grade, including eight (4.2 percent) who had used them in the past year; nine (4.6 percent) reported past-year use at the 12th-grade follow-up.
Preparing for the Drug-Free Years did not significantly reduce methamphetamine use; the Iowa Strengthening Families Program, with or without the Life Skills Training course, produced a statistically significant decrease in both short-term use and lifetime use; and Life Skills Training by itself was effective in addressing lifetime use. At the 12th-grade follow-up for study one, none of the students who had participated in the Iowa Strengthening Families Program and five (3.6 percent) of those participating in Preparing for the Drug-Free Years had used methamphetamines in the past year. In study two, among the students in the 11th grade completing the revised Iowa Strengthening Families Program plus Life Skills Training, one (.5 percent) reported using methamphetamines in the past year or ever using them and four (2.1 percent) reported past-year use in 12th grade; of those who completed Life Skills Training only, 5 (2.5 percent) reported using in the past year when asked in 11th grade and three (1.4 percent) reported using in the past year when asked in 12th grade.
"Given the lack of previous preventive intervention outcome research on methamphetamine use, the results of the current study are welcome, indicating the effectiveness of three of four universal interventions on lifetime or annual methamphetamine use across two randomized studies," the authors write. "It is noteworthy in this context that none of the interventions had content specific to the prevention of methamphetamine use; the observed intervention effects were obtained by addressing general risk and protective factors for drug use associated with family and school environments."
JAMA and Archives Journals
Methamphetamine Current Events and Methamphetamine News RSSLocal health investigation sheds light on gastroschisis birth defect
Results of an investigation conducted by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, public health officials and area physicians published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, indicate that Washoe County experienced a cluster of a particular birth defect, gastroschisis, during the period April 2007 - April 2008.
Wastewater used to map illicit drug use
A team of researchers has mapped patterns of illicit drug use across the state of Oregon using a method of sampling municipal wastewater before it is treated.
Risky sexual behavior among male clients of Tijuana sex workers heightens risk of HIV transmission
A study by a bi-national team of global health researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, examining HIV infection among male clients of female sex workers in Tijuana, has found that over half of male clients had recently had unprotected sex.
Brain protein central to both Parkinson's, drug addiction identified
Scientists have identified a protein that appears not only to be central to the process that causes Parkinson's disease but could also play a role in muting the high from methamphetamine and other addictive drugs.
Brain protein central to both Parkinson's, drug addiction identified
Scientists have identified a protein that appears not only to be central to the process that causes Parkinson's disease but could also play a role in muting the high from methamphetamine and other addictive drugs.
Prenatal meth exposure linked to abnormal brain development
A first of its kind study examining the effects of methamphetamine use during pregnancy has found the drug appears to cause abnormal brain development in children.
Methamphetamine use cost the US about $23 billion in 2005, RAND study estimates
The economic cost of methamphetamine use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005, including the burden of addiction, premature death, drug treatment and many other aspects of the drug, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
Success of anti-meth ads questioned by study
An independent review investigating the effectiveness of a publicly funded graphic anti-methamphetamine advertising campaign has found that the campaign has been associated with many negative outcomes.
Methamphetamine abuse linked to underage sex, smoking and drinking
Teens who have never done drugs, but engage in other risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and being sexually active, are more likely to use crystal meth, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have concluded.
Hope for treating relapse to methamphetamine abuse
A new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory suggests that vigabatrin (a.k.a. gamma vinyl-GABA, or GVG) blocks drug-seeking behavior in animals previously trained to associate methamphetamine with a particular environment.
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