Improving Brief Marijuana Interventions With a Behavioral Economic Supplement (BLUE-J)

University of Memphis

Status: Completed

Conditions: Marijuana Use

Treatments: Behavioral: Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI); Behavioral: Substance-Free Activity Session (SFAS); Behavioral: Relaxation Session

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02837315

3R01AA020829-02S1

4R01AA020829-05 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a Substance-Free Activity Session (SFAS) as a supplement to a brief motivation intervention (BMI) in reducing marijuana use and drug-related consequences in college student

Full description

Approximately 20% of college students are regular marijuana users, and are at risk for cognitive and academic problems, addiction, and risk behaviors such as driving while impaired. Young adult marijuana users are thus a high-risk population and may require an intervention that motivates marijuana reductions by increasing engagement in constructive alternatives to marijuana use. Brief Motivational Interventions (BMIS) have demonstrated efficacy for alcohol use in college students, but lack consistent evidence of efficacy for marijuana use. This research team has developed a supplement to alcohol BMIs, the Substance-Free Activity Session (SFAS), which directly targets the behavioral economic mechanisms of both substance-free reinforcement and delayed reward discounting by encouraging the development of and commitment to academic and career goals, and by highlighting the impact of day-to-day patterns of alcohol use and academic engagement on these goals. A controlled pilot trial found that the SFAS improved BMI outcomes in a sample of heavy drinking college students, and the ongoing parent trial to this revision is replicating and extending those results. This study will evaluate the SFAS using a randomized 3-group (BMI + SFAS vs. BMI + Relaxation Attention Control, vs. Assessment Only) pilot trial with 120 undergraduates (50% female, 40% minority) who report using marijuana on > 5 days in the past-month. It is hypothesized that at the 1-month and the next-semester follow-ups (follow-ups are wedded to the academic calendar to allow for representative measurement of marijuana use and activity patterns) BMI+SFAS participants will report significantly lower levels of marijuana use and problems, and that these reductions will exceed those of BMI + Relaxation and Assessment-Only participants. Exploratory analyses will test the hypotheses that (a) the BMI + SFAS will be more effective for participants who report higher baseline marijuana reinforcing efficacy and delayed reward discounting; and (b) the advantage of BMI + SFAS on marijuana use will be mediated by increased participation in substance-free activities. Support for our hypotheses would extend behavioral economic theory and would provide initial validation for an approach that could be used to reduce marijuana misuse among the increasing population of college students who misuse marijuana. Furthermore, given the focus of the SFAS is to increase academic/campus engagement, this work has the potential for widespread dissemination.

Enrollment: 133 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• freshman or sophomore at the university of Memphis
• 5 or more past-month days of marijuana use

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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133 participants in 3 patient groups

BMI + SFAS

Experimental group

Description:

Participants first receive a 50-minute standard brief motivational intervention designed to reduce marijuana use. A week later, they will receive the SFAS (Substance-free Activity Session., a 50-minute counseling session designed to increase the salience of the student's academic and career goals, draw attention to the potentially negative relationship between substance use and goal accomplishment, and increase engagement in substance-free alternative activities. The SFAS was described to participants as the "College Adjustment Session" and the session was conducted using an MI plus personalized feedback approach.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI)

Behavioral: Substance-Free Activity Session (SFAS)

BMI + Relaxation Session

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants first receive a 50-minute standard brief motivational intervention designed to reduce marijuana use. A week later, they will receive a relaxation training session. In the relaxation training session, the clinician leads the student through a diaphragmatic breathing exercise, followed by a progressive muscle relaxation protocol (\~30 minutes). At the end of the session, students were asked about their reaction to the relaxation techniques and were provided with relaxation training handouts.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI)

Behavioral: Relaxation Session

Assessment

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants fill out a battery of measures and receive no intervention.