Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment/Motivational Interviewing School-Based Therapy Pilot Study

Substance abuse and comorbid psychological disorders are significant problems among adolescents. Hence, school-based interventions could be a promising approach for tackling substance use and mental health symptoms in at-risk youth. This pilot study was aimed at determining the effectiveness of interventions like Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment and motivational interviewing (MI) on depressive anxiety and substance use symptoms in middle school participants. Student psychiatric nurse practitioners who were trained and competent in MI conducted a combined Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment/MI intervention with 19 participants using measurement tools such as the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorders-7, and the Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, Trouble Screening Test. Depressive and anxiety symptoms decreased after the intervention. Because the pre-post Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Friends, Trouble screening period was 4 weeks, there were no significant pre-post differences.