16th EUSPR Conference and Members’ Meeting

Effectiveness of the Botvin High School LifeSkills Training intervention on adolescent substance use: A cluster randomized trial across two U.S. states

Not scheduled

15m

CharitéCrossOver/0-0 - Atrium (Virchowweg 6)

Poster Posters day 2

Speaker

Dr Christine Steeger (University of Colorado Boulder)

Description

Background. Concerns about the rise in adolescent vaping and cannabis use highlight the need for effective substance use prevention programs. Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) has a strong evidence base at the middle school level for preventing or reducing tobacco use and related problems. A high school version of LST has been developed but not sufficiently tested in experimental trials, despite wide implementation across the U.S. This study evaluated the high school version of LST in a large-scale cluster randomized trial.
Methods. Fifty U.S. high schools (n=2,375 students) in Colorado and Ohio were randomized to either the 10-session, teacher-led intervention group (n=29 schools, n=1,324 students) or business-as-usual control group (n=21 schools, n=1,151 students). Two cohorts of 9th and 10th grade students completed self-report surveys at pretest, posttest, 1-year follow-up, and 21-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were past 30-day tobacco use and past 30-day cannabis use. Secondary outcomes were attitudes, other substance use, psychosocial behaviors, academic grades, and intermediate outcomes (mechanisms) targeted by the intervention. Intent-to-treat analyses used multilevel modeling to estimate intervention effects on outcomes across assessment points.
Results. At 1-year-follow up, there were significant intervention effects on two intermediate variables, greater decision making and advertising resistance. At 21-month follow-up, additional significant intervention effects were found on intermediate outcomes, including greater decision making, anxiety reduction, emotion regulation, communication, assertiveness, and perceived harm of substances for intervention versus control group participants. However, there were no significant intervention effects on any primary or secondary behavioral outcomes at any follow-up assessments.
Discussion. This large-scale, independent evaluation found significant intervention effects on several mechanisms targeted by the intervention, but null effects on all behavioral outcomes. Results are considered in the context of LST program characteristics, developmental trends in substance use behaviors, and conducting intervention research during the COVID-19 pandemic.