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Cited by 137Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesCrime Patterns and InterventionsYouth, Drugs, and Violence

Effectiveness of early interventions for substance-using adolescents: findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Open access
Carney, Tara, Myers, Bronwyn·2012·Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
DOI 10.1186/1747-597x-7-25PMC PMC3538561
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Information on the impact of available interventions that address adolescent substance use and delinquency can inform investment choices. This article aims to identify and evaluate early interventions that target adolescent substance use as a primary outcome, and criminal or delinquent behaviours as a secondary outcome. METHOD: A systematic review of early interventions for adolescent substance use and behavioural outcomes was conducted. RESULTS: We identified nine studies using specific search strategies. All but one of the studies reported the use of brief intervention strategies. Only seven studies contained information which allowed for the calculation of an effect size, and were therefore included in the meta-analysis. The overall effect size for all outcomes combined was small but significant (g = 0.25, p < 0.001). The overall outcome for substance use was also small but significant (g = 0.24, p < 0.001). For studies with behavioural outcomes, the overall effect size reached significance (g = 0.28, p < 0.001). In general, subgroup analysis showed that individual interventions with more than one session had a stronger effect on the outcomes of interest. CONCLUSIONS: Early interventions for adolescent substance use do hold benefits for reducing substance use and associated behavioural outcomes. Interventions are most promising if delivered in an individual format and over multiple sessions. One intervention in particular had large effect sizes. As all the interventions were tested in developed countries, further testing is needed in low- and middle-income countries where there is a lack of research on evidence-based interventions for adolescent risk behaviours. Additional recommendations for policy and practice are provided in this paper.

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  • The effectiveness and acceptability of BIs for addressing substance use problems depends on factors such as delivery setting, substances used, and number of BI sessions.

    “It is however important to note that the effectiveness and acceptability of BIs for addressing substance use problems depends on several factors such as delivery setting [21], substances used [22], and number of BI sessions [23].”

    From A scoping review of substance use brief interventions in Africa (2024) · cites this paper as [23]

    The Results (Intervention effects; page unavailable) report larger effects for multiple-session than single-session interventions, supporting the number-of-sessions point about effectiveness. The cited findings concern substance-using adolescents and do not establish that session number affects acceptability. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Early interventions for adolescent substance use do hold benefits for reducing substance use and associated behavioral outcomes if delivered in an individual format and over multiple sessions.

    “Early interventions for adolescent substance use do hold benefits for reducing substance use and associated behavioral outcomes if delivered in an individual format and over multiple sessions [76].”

    From Interventions for Adolescent Substance Abuse: An Overview of Systematic Reviews (2016) · cites this paper as [76]

  • Outcomes tend to be better with early intervention for SUDs.

    “outcomes tend to be better with early intervention (Carney and Myers, 2012, Stockings et al., 2016).”

    From The substance use disorder treatment gap among US college students: Findings from the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024) · cites this paper as Carney and Myers, 2012

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Barry KL Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance Abuse. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 34 1999 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Treatment: Rockwell, MD 22514840
  2. Hedges LV Olkin I Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis 1985 New York: Academic Press
  3. Review Manager (RevMan) [Computer program]. Version 5.1. Copenhagen The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration 2011

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Authors
Carney, T., & Myers, B.
Affiliations
South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
Corresponding author
Carney, Tara
ORCID
Venue
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2012-06-14
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
25-25
ISSN
1747-597X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/1747-597x-7-25
PMC
PMC3538561
OpenAlex
W2134617492
Cited by
137
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 3
FWCI
0.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Open University of Cape Town (University of Cape Town) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Youth, Drugs, and Violence
Keywords
adolescent substance use, early intervention, brief intervention, delinquency, juvenile delinquency, intervention effectiveness, adolescent risk behavior, evidence-based interventions
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Female, Humans, Male, Substance Abuse Detection, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Substance-Related Disorders, Early Diagnosis, Young Adult

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