Implementation Research and Perspectives

Agley, J., Gassman, R. A., Jun, M., Nowicke, C., & Samuel, S. (2015). Statewide administration of the CRAFFT screening tool: highlighting the spectrum of substance use. Substance use & misuse50(13), 1668-1677.

Alayan, N., & Shell, L. (2016). Screening adolescents for substance use: The role of NPs in school settings. The Nurse Practitioner41(5), 1-6.

Borus, J., Parhami, I., & Levy, S. (2016). Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America25(4), 579-601.

Condon, T. P., Rosero, D., & Ramos, M. M. (2017). Addressing Adolescent Substance Abuse in New Mexico by Engaging the State-Funded School Based Health System: Implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). Journal of Adolescent Health60(2), S122-S123.
BRIEF NOTE: This abstract describes the implementation of a state-supported School-Based Health Center project to reduce adolescent substance use through screenings, brief interventions, and referrals to treatment when indicated. It describes the use of the CRAFFT and CHISPA screening instruments to generate a comprehensive picture of potentially problematic behaviors among students, and the use of tablet technology in screening and provider review processes.

Curtis, B. L., McLellan, A. T., & Gabellini, B. N. (2014). Translating SBIRT to public school settings: An initial test of feasibility. Journal of substance abuse treatment46(1), 15-21.

Derges, J., Kidger, J., Fox, F., Campbell, R., Kaner, E., & Hickman, M. (2017). Alcohol screening and brief interventions for adults and young people in health and community-based settings: a qualitative systematic literature review. BMC public health17(1), 562.

D’Souza-Li, L., & Harris, S. K. (2016). The future of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment in adolescent primary care: research directions and dissemination challenges. Current opinion in pediatrics28(4), 434-440.
BRIEF NOTE: This review discusses next steps that the field needs to take to answer critical questions about SBIRT for adolescents and to highlight promising areas for future development and implementation. In particular, the use of technology, the use of nonphsycian behavioral health providers, and the embedding of screening and decision support tools in electronic systems hold promise to advance the field of primary-care based SBIRT for adolescent patients.

Gonzales, A., Westerberg, V. S., Peterson, T. R., Moseley, A., Gryczynski, J., Mitchell, S. G., … & Schwartz, R. P. (2012). Implementing a statewide screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) service in rural health settings: New Mexico SBIRT. Substance abuse33(2), 114-123.

Harris, B. R. (2016). Communicating about screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment: Messaging strategies to raise awareness and promote voluntary adoption and implementation among New York school-based health center providers. Substance abuse37(4), 511-515. 

Harris, B. R. (2016). Talking about screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for adolescents: an upstream intervention to address the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic. Preventive medicine91, 397-399. 

Institute for Research, Education, & Training in Addictions Webinar, Pediatricians Explain Why SBIRT is Essential to Adolscent Health

Institute for Research, Education, & Training in Addictions Webinar, SBIRT: Knowing about Substances Makes a Better SBIRT Intervention

Lunstead, J., Weitzman, E. R., Kaye, D., & Levy, S. (2017). Screening and brief intervention in high schools: School nurses’ practices and attitudes in Massachusetts. Substance abuse, 1-4.

Mitchell, S. G., Gryczynski, J., O’Grady, K. E., & Schwartz, R. P. (2013). SBIRT for adolescent drug and alcohol use: Current status and future directions. Journal of substance abuse treatment44(5), 463-472.
BRIEF NOTE: This review highlights that the evidence base for adolescent SBIRT is not as comprehensive as it is for adults, due largely to the clinical, methodological, and logistical challenges associated with conducting well-controlled randomized trials of SBIRT protocols for adolescent populations. It highlights the need for further research on SBIRT in community-based medical and other service settings where adolescents often receive care, and the importance of measuring outcomes other than those narrowly related to substance use (e.g. patient satisfaction) and referral to treatment.

Mitchell, S. G., Schwartz, R. P., Kirk, A. S., Dusek, K., Oros, M., Hosler, C., … & O’Grady, K. E. (2016). SBIRT implementation for adolescents in urban federally qualified health centers. Journal of substance abuse treatment60, 81-90.

National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health, Pediatricians’ Interest in Expanding Services and Making Practice Changes to Improve the Care of Adolescents 

National Screening, Brief Intervention, & Referral to Treatment Addiction Technology Transfer Center. Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment for Youth. 

O’Neil, M., Volmert, A., and Kendall-Taylor, N. (2016). Telling Stories That Explain: Comparing Media and Organizational Discourse on Adolescent Substance Use. Washington, DC: FrameWorks Institute. 

Ozechowski, T. J., Becker, S. J., & Hogue, A. (2016). SBIRT-A: adapting SBIRT to maximize developmental fit for adolescents in primary care. Journal of substance abuse treatment62, 28-37.
BRIEF NOTE: This article presents readers with information about steps that could be taken to adapt existing SBIRT protocols designed to identify and address adult substance use for implementation with adolescent populations. These considerations may be particularly useful in settings where adult SBIRT is already being implemented, and it may be easier to modify existing protocols for adults for use with adolescents instead of creating new SBIRT protocols for adolescents from scratch. While this article focuses on medical settings, the adaptations could be used in other settings (e.g. justice settings) that serve both adult and adolescent populations.

Patton, R., Deluca, P., Kaner, E., Newbury-Birch, D., Phillips, T., & Drummond, C. (2013). Alcohol screening and brief intervention for adolescents: the how, what and where of reducing alcohol consumption and related harm among young people. Alcohol and alcoholism49(2), 207-212. 

Ramos, M. M., Sebastian, R. A., Murphy, M., Oreskovich, K., & Condon, T. P. (2017). Adolescent substance use: Assessing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of a school-based health center workforce. Substance Abuse38(2), 230-236.

Stead, M., Parkes, T., Nicoll, A., Wilson, S., Burgess, C., Eadie, D., … & McAteer, J. (2017). Delivery of alcohol brief interventions in community-based youth work settings: exploring feasibility and acceptability in a qualitative study. BMC public health17(1), 357. 

Sterling, S., Kline-Simon, A. H., Jones, A., Satre, D. D., Parthasarathy, S., & Weisner, C. (2017). Specialty addiction and psychiatry treatment initiation and engagement: Results from an SBIRT randomized trial in pediatrics. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 82, 48-54  
BRIEF NOTE: This study is notable in that it sheds light on the difficult question of how to successfully link adolescents who need specialty care with treatment. The study highlights the potential benefits of having embedded behavioral health clinicians (rather than pediatricians) facilitate referrals to specialty care.

Sterling, S., Kline-Simon, A. H., Satre, D. D., Jones, A., Mertens, J., Wong, A., & Weisner, C. (2015). Implementation of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for adolescents in pediatric primary care: A cluster randomized trial. JAMA pediatrics169(11), e153145-e153145.

Sterling, S., Kline-Simon, A. H., Wibbelsman, C., Wong, A., & Weisner, C. (2012). Screening for adolescent alcohol and drug use in pediatric health-care settings: predictors and implications for practice and policy. Addiction science & clinical practice7(1), 13.

Sterling, S., Valkanoff, T., Hinman, A., & Weisner, C. (2012). Integrating substance use treatment into adolescent health care. Current psychiatry reports14(5), 453-461.

Treatment Research Institute, Paving the Way to Change: Advancing Quality Interventions for Adolescents Who Use, Abuse, or are Dependent upon Alcohol and Other Drugs 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Implementation Barriers and Facilitators of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCS)

Wagner, E. F., Tubman, J. G., & Gil, A. G. (2004). Implementing school‐based substance abuse interventions: Methodological dilemmas and recommended solutions. Addiction99(s2), 106-119.

Whittle, A. E., Buckelew, S. M., Satterfield, J. M., Lum, P. J., & O’Sullivan, P. (2015). Addressing adolescent substance use: teaching screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) and motivational interviewing (MI) to residents. Substance abuse36(3), 325-331.