This investigation examined how personal, environmental and substance use factors predicted psychosocial functioning for youth with alcohol and drug problems. Four hundred twenty-four adolescents (M = 15.9, SD = 1.3) completed comprehensive assessments, including personal characteristics (e.g., Axis I diagnosis, motivation, self-esteem),…

The complex issues associated with barriers to treatment entry for parents who are involved with child welfare has not been well explored. Accessing "timely" treatment is now critical for these parents since the introduction of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, limiting the time until a permanency decision is made. Using a longitudinal,…

Twenty young people with a history of incarceration, substance abuse and disconnection provided Whitelion with insight into "what worked" in changing their at-risk behaviours. The answer was obvious--state support beyond 18 years of age, perhaps until the mid-twenties. These young people require specialised intervention, and help…

Access and equity for all students in California colleges and universities is a high priority of the California Postsecondary Education Commission. Over the past year, CPEC staff have reviewed research, collected data, convened an advisory committee, and hosted a panel of experts, students, and advocates on the issues faced by lesbian, gay,…

School suspensions are commonly used in schools to address challenging student behaviours, often on the understanding that suspensions send a clear message to the school community about what is acceptable behaviour. However, there is a growing body of evidence that school suspensions have a range of unintended negative consequences including…

The authors discuss that the curriculum design of the TARGET group is based on the life-saving metaphor to guide the program beyond what has been experienced in the past as a broken record practice about resistance to substance misuse and abuse. The first premise is that the personal capacity for residing or being resilient toward risk-taking…

The report from President George W. Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (NFC), "Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America"(2003), proposes goals and recommendations for improving mental health services. This report has significant implications for the delivery of mental health services through the schools. A…

Although schools are places for learning and growth, they are also places where students engage in alcohol and drug use. This study showed that most teachers were aware of drugs in their schools, but did not regard drug use as an interference in their own classrooms. Many teachers were knowledgeable about their schools' drug policy, but did not…

The authors show associations between immigration and alcohol disorders using data from the 1995 and 2000 U.S. National Alcohol Surveys and the 1998 Mexico National Household Survey on Addictions. The prevalence of alcohol dependence was 4.8% for the Mexicans, 4.2% for the Mexico-born immigrants, and 6.6% for the U.S.-born Mexican Americans. They…

This study reports on norms developed for the Minnesota Institute of Public Health's (1999) Community Readiness Survey. Prevention experts from ten states and the Red Lake Nation sorted data from 50 communities into high and low readiness groups using a Q-sort process. High inter-rater agreement was achieved on communities sorted. Tests of…

Researchers in the social norms area have previously focused primarily on alcohol consumption, paying comparatively less attention to drug use and sexual behavior. The major purposes of this study were to (1) compare perceptions of peer norms in the areas of alcohol use, drug use, and sexual behavior with actual behavior and (2) determine if a…

The impact of early therapeutic alliance was examined in 100 clients receiving either individual cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or family therapy for adolescent substance abuse. Observational ratings of adolescent alliance in CBT and adolescent and parent alliance in family therapy were used to predict treatment retention (in CBT only) and…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the effect of Counselor Active Rehabilitation Service (CARS), compared to standard rehabilitation counseling in reducing feelings of hopelessness in individuals with substance abuse disorders. This study involved 50 inner city participants with substance abuse disorders. As determined using…

Addiction treatment agencies face challenges in adopting and sustaining Motivational Interviewing (MI) use. Addiction Educators can assist agencies in changing practices by preparing new practitioners to have some beginning skills in adoption and sustaining strategies. Investigators assessed three types of agency training and six administrative…

The Oregon Practice Improvement Collaborative (OPIC) facilitated the implementation of motivational interviewing (MI) in two community-based substance abuse treatment agencies. "The Change Book: A Blueprint for Technology Transfer" was used to structure and support the implementation of motivational interviewing. As part of the…