The overarching purpose of this study is to increase justice-involved youths' access to an evidence-based practice for substance abuse, specifically Contingency Management (CM). This randomized controlled trial will examine the effectiveness of using juvenile probation officers (JPOs) to deliver CM to youth (aged 12-17 years) on their caseloads. CM is an evidence-based practice for substance abuse. The Investigators posit that JPOs are in an ideal position to deliver an evidence-based practice such as CM to youth because of their intensive involvement and frequent contact with the youth offenders under their supervision. The study randomizes 36 JPOs to 2 conditions: CM versus control (usual JPO services), and then randomizes 504 drug-abusing adolescent probationers across those 2 conditions. The research team will work with JPOs employed by the Department of Youth Services (DYS) in various counties in Oregon. JPOs will participate in focus groups and research interviews and will submit monthly audio-tapes of sessions with participating youth. JPOs randomized to the CM condition will receive training in how to deliver CM. As stated, participating youth will also be randomized to CM or control and assigned to a JPO in the same condition. For those in the CM group, the delivery of CM will be added to their regular meetings with their JPO. Research data will be collected from families via audio-taped interviews and questionnaires from youth and one caretaker. Urine samples for drug testing will also be collected from youth. Lastly, arrest records will be collected on youth for the 18 months pre- and post-entry into the study. The study involves 2 types of participants: youth (n=504) and juvenile probation officers (n=36), for a total of 540 anticipated participants.
The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Juvenile Probation Officers (JPOs) delivering Contingency Management (CM) to teens on their caseload who have problems with drug use. CM has already been shown to be effective at helping teens with drug problems but CM has never been delivered by JPOs. This study will test how well it works to have JPOs deliver CM during their regular meetings with teens.