This paper lays out the research methodology and outcomes of a one-year follow-up evaluation of a project testing the effectiveness of a motivational interviewing-based booster session for the project, Toward No Drug Abuse.
The authors present the one-year outcomes evaluation of a project that tested the efficacy of motivational interviewing-based booster sessions for Project Toward No Drug Abuse (TND), a 12-session, school-based curriculum targeting youth at risk for drug abuse. In addition, the authors assessed generalization of effects to risky sexual behavior. The authors randomized a total of 24 schools to one of three conditions: standard care control (SCC); TND classroom program only (TND-only); and TND plus motivational interviewing booster (TND + MI). A total of 1186 participants completed baseline and one-year follow-up surveys. Following the classroom program, youth in the TND + MI condition received up to three sessions of MI in person or by telephone. Effects were examined on 30-day cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use, as well as measures of risky sexual behavior such as number of sex partners, condom use, having sex while using drugs or alcohol. Collapsed across the two program conditions, results showed significant reductions in alcohol use, hard drug use, and cigarette smoking relative to controls. These effects held for an overall substance use index. The MI booster component failed to achieve significant incremental effects above and beyond the TND classroom program. The authors found no effects on risky sexual behavior. While the program effects of previous studies were replicated, the study failed to demonstrate that an adequately implemented MI booster was of incremental value at one-year follow-up. Publisher Abstract Provided