Piloting of the Just Say Know prevention program: a psychoeducational approach to translating the neuroscience of addiction to youth

Neuroscience-informed classification of prevention interventions in substance use disorders: An RDoC-based approach

“…The former category includes interventions such as mindfulness programs working on internal attention to calm the mind, body, and behavior and improve self-awareness (Waedel et al, 2020); and educational programs which provide scientific knowledge about the effects of different substances on the brain. These educational interventions, such as the Just Say Know (Meredith et al, 2021), translate neuroscience into understandable content, explaining how substances may change brain structures and function and lead to risky behaviors and SUDs. These informative programs increase individuals' selfknowledge and insight and provide scientific evidence for why adolescents are more vulnerable to initiate substance use to reinforce self-agency to regulate their own behaviors.…”

Neuroscience-Informed Classification of Prevention Interventions in Substance Use Disorders: An RDoC-based Approach

“…As a result of this transition, a new concept of “Neuroscience-based Psychoeducation” has emerged, which has been used to convey harm-minimization information to adolescents (Debenham et al, 2020; Ekhtiari et al, 2017). The Illicit Project and the Just Say Know programs are samples of the pioneers in this field developed to improve adolescents’ neuroscience-based substance literacy level (Meredith et al, 2021; Debenham et al, 2020).…”

“…The former category includes interventions that improve self-knowledge and self-esteem (e.g., resistance skills) and those that work on internal attention to calm the mind, body, and behavior and self-awareness (e.g., mindfulness programs) (Waedel et al, 2020); and educational programs which provide scientific knowledge about the effects of different substances on the brain. These educational interventions, such as the Just Say Know (Meredith et al, 2021), translate neuroscience into understandable content, explaining how substances may change brain structures and function and lead to risky behaviors and SUDs. These informative programs increase individuals' self-knowledge and insight and provide scientific evidence for why adolescents are more vulnerable to initiate substance use to reinforce self-agency to regulate their own behaviors.…”

“…Using the aforementioned criteria, a total of 22 [unique] interventions out of 101 eligible prevention trials (Table 1, See Figure 4) were extracted and analyzed in terms of the type of intervention developed or applied (the specific term coined for the interventional program) as well as their content explained by their authors (Table 2). Although our initial search yielded various interventions that were successfully implemented for students, such as the Unplugged (Faggiano et al, 2010), the Illicit Project (Debenham et al, 2020), and the Just Say Know programs Meredith et al, 2021, they couldn't be included in the review. This exclusion was due to their involvement of parents, recruitment of individuals aged >18, or evaluation of effectiveness in a pilot study rather than a randomized trial.…”

“…Current neuroscience-based models (Koob & Volkow, 2016;Yücel et al, 2019) conceptualize SUD as neuroadaptive / neurodevelopmental processes that happen at two different time scales: (1) a recurring cycle of binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation (craving) stages; and (2), a protracted "allostasis" that progressively alters neurotransmitter and stress responses, resulting in neuroplastic changes in brain reward, stress, and executive function systems. Identifying the neurocognitive domains implicated in each stage has considerable potential to help practitioners and clinicians improve their insight into SUD and apply that knowledge to more effectively treat and/or prevent SUD (Ekhtiari et al, 2021;Meredith et al, 2021;Debenham et al, 2020). Additional conceptualizations of SUD have focused on neurodevelopmental processes (Rose et al, 2019;Conrod and Nikolaou, 2016) to highlight the importance of individual differences and contextual factors such as trauma (Laroque et al, 2022), in moderating the above processes in the formation of SUD (Morin et al, 2018;Afzali et al, 2017;.…”