Adolescent Counselors Sought for Research Project

Aware that most of the adolescents who even are able to access substance use treatment end up relapsing within a year, a research scientist is enthusiastically testing an online relapse prevention tool to extend youths' clinical treatment. The federally supported project is looking for counselors who work with adolescents to help in the design of this relapse prevention program.

Kimberlee J. Trudeau, PhD, of the Massachusetts company Inflexxion, Inc., is the principal investigator of a Phase I National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded grant to build a motivational intervention for adolescents in recovery. Staying Off Substances (SOS): A Tailored Early Recovery Program for Teens will have six learning modules, and the feasibility study Trudeau is conducting will focus on developing content for the peer relationships module.

As part of this project to engage youths in this technological approach, the research team is recruiting 16 counselors to participate. Their work will involve participating in a one-hour phone interview to discuss their relapse prevention work with adolescents, completing an online questionnaire about potential program content, and completing a second online questionnaire to evaluate a brief demonstration program. These tasks will take place over the next five months, with completion of each resulting in an honorarium of $100 ($300 total).

Counselors with adolescent treatment expertise who are interested in learning more about the study should contact senior research coordinator Jessica Ainscough at (800) 848-3895, ext. 270, or jainscough@inflexxion.com by Monday, May 11.