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Abstract
We developed an interactive, customizable, Web-based program focused on the prevention of HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and hepatitis among youth. Results from a randomized, controlled trial with youth in treatment for substance use demonstrated that this Web-based tool, when provided as an adjunct to an educator-delivered prevention intervention, increased accurate prevention knowledge, increased intentions to carefully choose partners, and was perceived as significantly more useful relative to the educator-delivered intervention when provided alone. Results suggest this Web-based program may be effective and engaging and may increase the adoption of effective HIV and disease prevention science for youth. Limitations are discussed.
THE AUTHORS
Lisa A. Marsch, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Technology and Health at National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., New York, New York. She has conducted numerous research studies focused on examining how technology can be used to enhance the reach of science-based prevention and treatment interventions. She has directed several projects focused on developing and evaluating interactive, computer-based systems that deliver evidence-based interventions using effective learning and informational technologies, including computer-based behavioral therapy for individuals with substance use disorders, HIV prevention for injection drug users, HIV and STI prevention for young drug users, and substance abuse prevention for children and adolescents. This research has provided novel empirical information regarding the role that technology may play in improving substance abuse prevention and treatment in a manner that is cost-effective, ensures fidelity, and enables the rapid diffusion and widespread adoption of science-based interventions. Dr. Marsch serves as a scientific reviewer for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Mental Health. Dr. Marsch is also on the editorial boards of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, Substance Use and Misuse, and Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Michael J. Grabinski, BA, is President of Red 5 Group, LLC and Chief Technology Officer of HealthSim, LLC. He has architected and supervised the development of numerous commercial Internet, intranet, and extranet applications, including dozens of novel technology-based therapeutic interventions. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Learning and Health (CLH) at Johns Hopkins University, where he advises on the use of technology in substance abuse treatment settings and has developed Web-based applications for managing CLH's Data Services Division, a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide job skills training and lifestyle counseling to at-risk populations in a therapeutic workplace setting.
Warren K. Bickel, PhD, is Wilbur D. Mills Chair of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Prevention, Professor of Psychiatry, and Director, Center for Addiction Research, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas. Dr. Bickel also serves as Director of COPH's Center for the Study of Tobacco Addiction at UAMS. He has been continuously funded as Principal Investigator with several concurrent grants since 1988. His recent research includes the application of behavioral and neuro-economics to drug dependence with an emphasis on the discounting of the future and the use of information technologies to deliver science-based prevention and treatment. Dr. Bickel is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD), the Young Psychopharmacologist Award from the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse of the American Psychological Association, an NIH Merit Award from NIDA, and Researcher of the Year from the Arkansas Psychological Association (ArPA) Honors for Outstanding Contribution. He served as President of the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse, American Psychological Association, and as President of CPDD. Dr. Bickel was the Editor of the journal Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, has co-edited five books, and published over 250 papers.
Alethea Desrosiers, MPhil, is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked at National Development and Research Institutes as a senior research assistant overseeing several studies on computer-based prevention education in children and adolescents from 2004 to Citation2008. At present, she works for Brown University, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, providing motivational interviewing-based interventions for substance abusing teens and their parents. Her other research interests include clinical benefits of meditation and mindfulness-based interventions in both adolescents and adults.
Honoria Guarino, PhD, is a Project Director at National Development and Research Institutes. Since 2004, she has managed several research projects evaluating computer-based behavioral health interventions, including projects evaluating substance abuse treatment interventions for adults in methadone maintenance treatment and an HIV and disease prevention intervention for adolescents in substance abuse treatment. She has also worked as an ethnographer for the Bienvenidos study which implemented and evaluated a peer-based HIV prevention intervention for Puerto Rican migrant drug users. Dr. Guarino received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2003. Her current research interests include qualitative research methods, ethnography and young Russian–American opioid users in New York City.
Britta Muehlbach, MS, has been working in the substance abuse field for 18 years in diverse roles both in Europe and in the United States. Trained as a psychologist, she started out as a clinician in residential drug abuse treatment, later assumed a role of program evaluator and researcher, and currently works as Director of Program Planning and Business Development for a national provider of residential and outpatient treatment and prevention services. Britta has a particular interest in the areas of translating research into practice, and organizational functioning.
Ramon Solhkhah, MD, is the Vice Chairman for Education in the Department of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to this role, he was the Director of the Child and Family Institute and the Chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, a University Hospital of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Previously, he also held the position of Coordinator of Substance Abuse Services at the Child Study Center at New York University Medical Center. Dr. Solhkhah, a member of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is an active clinical researcher who has taught, lectured, and written extensively in child psychiatry and in the area of adolescent substance abuse.
Shilpa R. Taufique, PhD, is a Supervising Psychologist and the Assistant Clinical Director of the Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service (CARES) in the Child and Family Institute of St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals. Dr. Taufique has over a decade of experience working directly with diverse groups of adolescents, supervising emerging professionals, and developing programs relevant for teens. Her adolescent specialities include teen pregnancy and parenting, substance abuse, gang involvement, sexual identity, racial and ethnic identity, parent–teen relationships, and academic achievement.
Michelle Acosta, PhD, is a Co-Investigator in the Center for Technology and Health at National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI) in New York, New York. Dr. Acosta received her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Delaware, and completed a predoctoral internship in Pediatric Psychology at the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Addiction Psychology at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Acosta's research activities have focused on novel adaptations of evidence-based substance abuse interventions in non-traditional settings (e.g., psychiatric, medical, remote/telephone, and computer/Web-based) that may improve the reach and acceptability of these treatments for vulnerable populations. She has served as Project Manager, Co-Investigator, and Principal Investigator on several studies funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. She has collaborated on research developing and evaluating substance abuse interventions for medically ill patients and has collaborated on substance use research in youth, including young adult smokers, behavioral interventions to address teen substance use, and the adaptation of a computer-delivered assessment for teen substance use.