Juvenile Detention to Community Life

This study will employ a fully randomized (2 conditions) by 9 assessment points (baseline, discharge from detention, and 3, 6, 9, 18, 24, 36 and 42 months following detention discharge), repeated measures intent-to-treat design with multiple dependent variables. 154 males and females (85 participants from Miami Dade Regional Juvenile Detention Center and 85 from Pinellas Juvenile Detention Center) who meet the study eligibility criteria will be randomized to one of the two treatment conditions.

The study will also include a 6-month pilot phase. During this phase, the MDFT detention intervention and cross-systems collaboration protocols will be developed; the existing treatment manual will be revised; the MDFT-CS with family-based HIV prevention module and standard HIV education intervention will be developed; family therapists will be trained in the MDFT intervention (including HIV/STD module); the MDFT-CS intervention will be piloted; the assessment battery will be piloted; the protocols, manual, and training package will be revised and finalized; research staff will be trained on all procedures and protocols; and data management procedures will be developed.

During Stage 1, adolescents in all intervention conditions will receive standard detention services, which include education and health care. In addition, youth assigned to the ESAU condition will receive the standard mental health and substance abuse services offered in the detention (mainly psychoeducational in nature). Youth assigned to the MDFT-CS intervention will not receive standard mental health/substance abuse services provided by the detention center, as these youth will be assigned a MDFT therapist who will address their mental health and substance abuse issues needs.

Experimental Treatment: Multidimensional Family Therapy-Cross Systems (MDFT-CS). In Stage 1 (in detention) MDFT-CS, the experimental treatment, consists of two major components: standard initial/engagement work with parents in the home and with adolescents in detention (both conducted weekly for the duration of the adolescents stay in detention), plus a state-of-the-art HIV education prevention module based on CDC-endorsed strategies. The in-detention MDFT will be delivered by therapists employed by the University of Miami/ Center for Treatment Research on Adolescent Drug Abuse (CTRADA) who will continue to treat the youth and family after release from detention. In Stage 2, the experimental treatment includes the standard MDFT components (4 overall change units/targets: adolescent, parent, family interaction, and functioning of the family members vis a vis relevant extrafamilial social systems such as school and juvenile justice).

Enhanced Services as Usual (ESAU). In Stage 1 (in detention), ESAU includes two major components - standard drug treatment services that are delivered by detention staff, and state-of-the-art HIV education prevention intervention delivered to all participating youth.

In Stage 2, community drug treatment providers deliver high quality drug treatment on an outpatient basis. To minimize heterogeneity within the comparison condition, and in order to provide better service and treatment tracking opportunities, the study will only use one community based treatment agency to deliver ESAU per locale at each Research Center.

All measures selected are psychometrically strong, sensitive to change, and have been used widely in adolescent substance abuse treatment studies.

Inclusion criteria

• Be between the ages of 13 and 17
• Be incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility at intake
• Endorse substance abuse problems on the MAYSI or other intake forms
• Have at least one parent figure willing/able to participate in the intervention and research assessments
• Provide informed consent to participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

• Mental retardation or pervasive developmental disorders
• Psychotic features
• Current suicidality defined as Ideation + Plan + High intention to carry out plan
• High risk to receive long-term residential placement directly from detention