https://www.robertjmeyersphd.com/pdf/The%20Cannabis%20Youth%20Treatment%20(CYT)%20Study%20-%20Main%20findings%20from%20two%20randomized%20trials.pdf

The Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) Study: main findings from two randomized trials.

The Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN)1 is a 1-2 hour standardized biopsychosocial that integrates clinical and research assessment for people presenting to substance abuse treatment. The GAIN - Short Screener (GSS) is 3-5 minute screener to quickly identify those who would have a disorder based on the full 60-120 minute GAIN and triage the problem and kind of intervention they are likely to need along four dimensions (internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, substance disorders, and crime/violence). Data were collected from 6,177 adolescents and 1,805 adults as part of 77 studies in three dozen locations around the United States that used the GAIN. For both adolescents and adults the 20-item total disorder screener (TDScr) and its four 5-item sub-screeners (internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, substance disorders, and crime/violence) has good internal consistency (alpha of .96 on total screener), is highly correlated (r = .84 to .94) with the 123-item longer scales in the full GAIN. The GSS also does well in terms of its receiver operator characteristics (90% or more under the curve in all analyses) and has clinical decision-making cut points with excellent sensitivity (90% or more) for identifying people with a disorder and excellent specificity (92% or more) for correctly ruling out people who did not have a disorder. The GSS has good potential as an efficient screener for identifying people with co-occurring disorders across multiple systems and routing them to the right services and more detailed assessments.

/pdf/development-and-validation-of-the-gain-short-screener-gss-16sqkd1muj.pdf

Development and Validation of the GAIN Short Screener (GSS) for Internalizing, Externalizing and Substance Use Disorders and Crime/Violence Problems Among Adolescents and Adults

Adolescents, substance abuse, and the treatment of insomnia and daytime sleepiness

An experimental evaluation of recovery management checkups (RMC) for people with chronic substance use disorders.

Marijuana motives: young adults' reasons for using marijuana.

Aims This paper provides a description of the rationale, study design, treatments and assessment procedures used in the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) experiment.

Design  CYT was designed to (a) test the relative effectiveness, cost and benefit–cost of five promising treatment interventions under field conditions and (b) provide evidence based manual-guided models of these interventions to the treatment field.

Setting  The study involved two community-based treatment programs and two major medical centers.

Participants  Participants were 600 adolescents recruited from the regular intake who were between the ages of 12 and 18, had used marijuana in the past 90 days, and met one or more criteria of dependence or abuse.

Interventions  Participants were randomly assigned to one of five interventions: Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Family Support Network (FSN), Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA), or Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT).

Measurements  Self-report data were collected at intake, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post discharge using the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN), as well as several supplemental self-reports, collateral reports, urine testing, and service logs.

Findings  This paper reports on the study's implementation including the psychometric properties of the measures (alphas over 0.8), validity of self-report (kappa over 0.6), high rates of treatment completion (81% completed two or more months), and high rates of follow-up (over 94% per wave).

Conclusions  The feasibility of implementing the CYT manual-guided treatment and quality assurance model in community-based adolescent treatment programs is discussed.

M. C. Roebuck

Papers

The Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) experiment: Rationale, study design and analysis plans.