Purpose: To determine the prevalence of substance use among adolescent psychiatric outpatients using a variety of data sources. Method: Using a questionnaire, 3-month prevalence of substance use data were obtained from 50 adolescents and their health care providers. Adolescents' self-reports and providers' clinical impressions were compared with…

Positive school climates and student drug testing have been separately proposed as strategies to reduce student substance use in high schools. However, the effects of drug testing programs may depend on the favorability of school climates. This study examined the association between school drug testing programs and student substance use in schools…

Substance use and abuse among pharmacy students is a concern of pharmacy schools, boards of pharmacy, and training sites alike. Pharmacy students must complete approximately 30% of their academic coursework in experiential settings such as community pharmacies, hospitals, and other health systems as part of any accredited pharmacy school's…

Substance abuse, especially among adolescents, has long been an important issue in society. In light of the adverse impact of substance abuse, scholars, educators, and policy-makers have proposed different approaches to prevent and reduce such abuse. This paper investigates the effectiveness of the two prominent approaches--educational and…

Background: Despite the ample interest in the measurement of substance abuse and dependence, obtaining biological samples from participants as a means to validate a scale is considered time and cost intensive and is, subsequently, largely overlooked. Objectives: To report the psychometric properties of the drug use disorder (DUD) questionnaire…

Non-individualized (so-called "random") drug testing in public schools presents issues of Constitutional law on both the federal and state levels, particularly with regard to citizens' freedom from "unreasonable searches and seizures." The trend toward increasing acceptance of such testing by the courts (and particularly the U.S. Supreme Court)…

Objective: The primary purpose of this study was to test a relatively efficient strategy for enhancing the capacity of juvenile drug courts (JDC) to reduce youth substance use and criminal behavior by incorporating components of evidence-based treatments into their existing services. Method: Six JDCs were randomized to a condition in which…

Objective: Contingency management (CM) is efficacious in reducing drug use. Typically, reinforcers are provided on an individual basis to patients for submitting drug-negative samples. However, most treatment is provided in a group context, and poor attendance is a substantial concern. This study evaluated whether adding CM to group-based…

Although outcomes monitoring and the collection of other performance data holds benefits for service managers and policy makers, the extent to which these data are collected by South African substance abuse service providers is unknown. To describe (i) the extent to which substance abuse service providers in South Africa monitor and evaluate their…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effect of a multiple high-risk behaviors prevention program applied comprehensively throughout an entire school-system involving universal, selective, and indicated levels of students at a local private high school during a 4-year period. The prevention program was created based upon the…

One approach some U.S. schools now use to combat high rates of adolescent substance use is school-based mandatory-random student drug testing (MRSDT). Under MRSDT, students and their parents sign consent forms agreeing to the students' participation in random drug testing as a condition of participating in athletics and other school-sponsored…

To help assess the effects of school-based random drug testing programs, the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) contracted with RMC Research Corporation and Mathematica Policy Research to conduct an experimental evaluation of the Mandatory-Random Student Drug Testing (MRSDT) programs in 36 high schools within…

The objectives of this paper are two-fold: to examine first, if the change from positive to negative alcohol and any other substance use status from baseline assessment to the onset of the first session (i.e., pre-treatment phase) occurs in adolescents, that is, Assessment Reactivity (AR); second, whether AR predicts treatment outcome.…

Drug testing continues to develop as a popular strategy to control substance abuse in the workplace. The incidence of testing is partially based on the type of worksite, characteristics of employees, and policies of the company. (Author)

Adolescent substance abuse is an increasing problem in U. S. society. This article provides an overview of adolescent substance abuse, screening, and assessment strategies; contact information related to specific assessment instruments; and information regarding ethic important to consider during the assessment process. (Contains 16 references and…