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Primary care behavioural interventions to prevent or reduce substance use in children and adolescents
Summary of the evidence
Behavioural interventions (face-to-face or group counselling, print materials, interactive computer-based tools designed for patient use, and clinician training and quality improvement programs) implemented in primary care settings and targeting youth not seeking or identified as needing special treatment were found in a systematic review with meta-analysis (O'Connor E. et al., 2020, 29 studies, N=18 353) to have no significant effect in:
- preventing or reducing illicit drug use (SMD= - 0.08, 95% CI = -0.16, p<0.001, 24 studies, N=12 801).
The majority of intervention showed no clear evidence of benefit, and 2 reported increased illicit drug use in youth participating in the interventions for at least 1 drug-related outcome.
However a few showed a benefit for some outcomes in some subgroups, especially the combination of a clinician interview and an electronic-based intervention (e.g. computer-based interventions targeting young female adolescents or the computer-based version of the Familias Unidas intervention).
