Meetings & Events

NIDA Planning Group
Gaya Dowling
Ericka Boone
Wilson Compton
Redonna Chandler
Richard Denisco
Jacqueline Lloyd
Geetha Subramaniam
Petra Jacobs

Meeting Goals/Objectives

• Expectations from Meeting –
  • To discuss the current state of the science and the most effective approaches for adolescent screening in primary care settings
  • To inform NIDA’s development of an electronic adolescent drug screening tool and resource guide for clinicians.
• Why important?
  • The high prevalence of substance abuse among adolescents calls for targeted effective intervention strategies.
  • Primary care settings provide a unique opportunity to identify substance youth and prevent their escalation to addiction or refer them to necessary treatment

Topics Discussed

• Validated adolescent screening instruments
• Considerations for different ages/developmental stages
• Key decision points when selecting or creating a screener (e.g., purpose of the screener, risk versus severity, cut points, etc.)
• Clinical decision support
• What do physician’s do when a screening is positive
• Use of technology in adolescent screening tools

Take Home Messages from Talks/Group Discussions

Outcomes from Discussion

• Two primary evidence-based instruments discussed – CRAFFT and GAIN
• Pros and cons of embedding drug abuse screening in broader behavioral health care screening
• Different questions , cut-points, item hierarchies for different adolescent stages
• Research on brief intervention for teens ongoing – Bernstein paper only published study
• Incorporation of technology in screener is key, but technology changes quickly
• Screening for prescription drug abuse calls for different approach – no one has studied yet
• American Academy of Pediatrics will be releasing a policy statement on SBI using CRAFFT and brief advice at the end of summer
• NIAAA will be releasing their adolescent screen at the end of the summer – not based on CRAFFT

Future Directions

• Research
  • Validation of CRAFFT prescreen
  • SBI for prescription drug abuse
  • Long-term trajectories for kids who screen positive on existing screens – for USPSTF
• NIDA adolescent screen???