Review of Clinical Trials Testing the Effectiveness of Physician Approaches to Improving Alcohol Education and Counseling in Adolescent Outpatients

Abstract

Trials indicate that further reduction in adolescent alcohol use is possible with non-physicians as interventionists and perhaps physicians as interventionists, if physicians are supported by patient counseling guides and resources. Opportunities for personalized, interactive adolescent education with goal setting appears key to intervention success. The physician role that is tested in most trials is confined to a single brief encounter with little attention to: development of physician skills, systems-level resources, the parental role, or the impact of incorporating prevention into an ongoing adolescent-physician relationship.

Universal prevention of alcohol and drug use: An overview of reviews in an Australian context

“…Two systematic reviews of all available literature (Rating C) identified very few studies focusing on universal preventive interventions for alcohol use in healthcare settings. Amongst those studies that were identified, one study showed decreases in consumption in the intervention group.…”

Parental Awareness of Substance Use Among Adolescents in a Junior High School Sample

“…Substance-specific parenting practices have also been shown to be effective in reducing adolescent alcohol drinking (de Looze et al, 2012; van der Vorst, Engles, Deković, Meeus, & Vermulst, 2007), smoking behavior (de Looze et al, 2012; Emory, Saquib, Gilpin, & Pierce, 2010), and cannabis use (de Looze et al, 2012). Parents thus have the potential to influence their children’s substance use behavior by changing their parenting practices, and to seek professional assistance when needed to aid in controlling the children’s substance use or misuse (Boekeloo & Griffin, 2007; Ryan et al, 2010). Parental knowledge about children’s substance use is of course a prerequisite for actively changing parenting practices for the purpose of reducing substance use in children or for contacting professionals for the same purpose.…”

Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults

“…Efforts comparable to those over the past two decades to increase the delivery of preventive services to adolescents are just beginning for young adults. Multiple models shown to increase preventive screening in adolescents could be adapted for use for young adults (Boekeloo and Griffin, 2007;Boekeloo et al, 2003;Klein et al, 2003;Olson et al, 2009;Ozer, 2007;Ozer et al, 2005;Sanci et al, 2012;Stevens et al, 2008;Tylee et al, 2007).…”