Motivational enhancement therapy (MET), case management (CM), and a community reinforcement approach (CRA) also were effective means of intervention for homeless adolescents and young adults with substance use disorders, according to Natasha Slesnick, Ph.D., and her associates.
The percentage of days on which the teens used drugs, excluding alcohol and tobacco, fell from 68% to 49% after 1 year for the MET group, from 59% to 40% in the CRA group, and from 55% to 46% in the CM group. The percentage of days on which teens used alcohol dropped from 17% to 9% in the MET group, from 15% to 7% in the CRA group, and from 12% to 9% in the CM group.
“The findings suggest that drop-in centers have a choice of efficacious interventions when serving this group, though given fewer sessions, MET may be a more cost-effective option,” the investigators concluded.
Find the full study in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (2015 Feb. 17 doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2015.02.001).
