Three-Month Follow-up Of Brief Computerized And Therapist Interventions For Alcohol And Violence Among Teens

Alcohol use and violent behaviors are well documented among inner city adolescents and have enormous effect on morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES—We hypothesize that universal computer screening of teens in an inner city ED, followed by a brief intervention (BI) for violence & alcohol will be: 1) feasible (as measured by participation and completion of BI during the ED visit) and well received by teens (as measured by post-test process measures of intervention acceptability); and 2) effective at significantly changing known precursors to behavior change such as attitudes, self-efficacy, and readiness to change alcohol use and violence 3-months following the ED-based BI. METHODS—Patients (ages 14–18, 3–11 shift, 7 days/week), at an Urban Level 1 ED (Sept 06– Nov 08) were approached to complete a computerized survey. Adolescents reporting past year alcohol use and violence were randomized to a control group, or a ~35 minute BI delivered by a computer or therapist as part of the SafERteens study. Measures—Validated measures were administered including: demographics, alcohol use, attitudes toward alcohol and violence, self-efficacy for alcohol and violence, readiness to change alcohol an