[Brief intervention for smoking, problem drinking and drug abuse by high school students]

Adolescent smoking, drinking and illegal drug abuse (drug-related problems) in Japan were treated as a legal model in the second prevention area. This study showed the necessity and usefulness of early intervention concerning adolescent drug-related problems as adolescent mental health problems. First, school nurses were asked if they were consulted about drug-related problems by students. Many school nurses in junior and senior high schools were consulted about drug-related problems by students, and they emphasized the need for counseling systems for drug-related problems by professionals. The second part of the study involved brief interventions by the authors in high school students with a high risk of drug-related problems. The authors went to three high schools and conducted brief interventions on students who had drug-related problems and sought advice. We prepared several screening tests for assessment of drug-related problems, such as the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale (AAIS). Quantity-Frequency Scale (QF Scale). Core Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (Core AUDIT), CAGE and Drug Abuse Screening Test-20 (DAST-20). In the brief interventions, the authors assessed drug-related problems of students using these scales and advised them how to revolve such problems two or three times. Twenty-two students accepted brief interventions. All of them smoked, 62% of them showed problem drinking and 33% illegal drug use. At 6 months after the brief interventions, 16 out of 21 students reported their drug-related problems. Nineteen percent of them had reduced smoking, 67% of them decreased drinking and one half of them decreased their use of illegal drugs. Results of this study revealed the necessity and the usefulness of the brief intervention for high school students with drug-related problems.