NCJ Number
191076
Date Published
2001
Length
256 pages
Annotation
This report describes the adolescent community reinforcement approach for adolescent cannabis users.
Abstract
The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) Project tested the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a variety of interventions designed to reduce or eliminate marijuana use and its associated problems in adolescents and to provide validated models of these interventions for the treatment field. Approximately 150 adolescents participated in the project. The manual provides guidance on how to prepare for and conduct the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) intervention sessions with adolescents and caregivers. The CRA acknowledges the powerful role of environmental contingencies in encouraging or discouraging drug use, and attempts to rearrange these contingencies so that sober behavior is more rewarding than using behavior. CRA procedures use operant techniques and skills training activities to teach individuals new ways of handling life's problems without drugs or alcohol. CRA is provided in an individual, context-specific approach that focuses on the interaction between individuals and those in their environments. CRA therapists teach individuals how to build on their reinforcers, how to use community resources that will support positive change, and how to develop a positive support system. Exhibits, tables, references, appendix