A Review of Guidelines on Home Drug Testing Web Sites for Parents

Abstract

Purpose To update and extend prior work reviewing websites that discuss home drug testing for parents and assess the quality of information that the websites provide to assist them to decide when and how to use home drug testing. Methods We conducted a world-wide web search that identified eight websites providing information for parents on home drug testing. We assessed the information on the sites using checklist developed with field experts in adolescent substance abuse and psychosocial interventions that focus on urine testing. Results None of the websites covered all of items on the 24-item checklist, and only three covered at least half of the items (12, 14, and 21 items, respectively). The five remaining websites covered less than half the checklist items. The mean number of items covered by the websites was 11. Conclusions Among the websites that we reviewed, few provided thorough information to parents regarding empirically-supported strategies to effectively use drug testing to intervene on adolescent substance use. Furthermore, most websites did not provide thorough information regarding the risks and benefits to inform parents’ decision to use home drug testing. Empirical evidence regarding efficacy, benefits, risks, and limitations of home drug testing is needed.

Research Review: What have we learned about adolescent substance use?

“…Additionally, some ‘designer’ and synthetic substances may not be included among commonly available urine drug testing panels. Home drug testing kits are widely available, but often lack informational guidance to inform parents/guardians of empirically supported strategies to incorporate them as a part of treatment and monitoring, indicating that clear guidance by the provider is critical when considering drug testing at home rather than in clinic (Washio et al., ).…”

Effect of urine adulterants on commercial drug abuse screening test strip results

“…Current commercially available immunochromatographic UDSTs can detect metabolites of the most common recreational drugs available on the Serbian black market such as cannabis, heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) ( 20 ). At home, however, urine samples can easily be diluted or adulterated, so if there is any doubt, laboratory testing is the best choice ( 21 , 22 ).…”