SEARCHCOHORTpublic health, psychiatry

cohort·public health, psychiatry, pediatrics, epidemiology, family medicine·PMC10194939

Engagement and outcomes of marginalised young people in an early intervention youth alcohol and other drug program: The Street Universities model

PLOS ONE · 4 authors, 2 centres

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TL;DR

The results showed 63% retention at six months, with over half attending weekly or more.

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The results showed 63% retention at six months, with over half attending weekly or more. Young people in the therapeutic component showed significant improvements (p < .001) in SDS, K10, and EQoL scores, with the most rapid gains within the first 30 days. Those with the worst baseline scores experienced the greatest improvements. Limitations include the inability to link participation patterns with outcomes, the lack of a comparison group, and uncertainties about the validity of some measures in this population. The findings suggest that integrating engagement and therapeutic services can effectively support disadvantaged youth with substance use and related wellbeing issues.

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cohort

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public health

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AI pipeline

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100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10194939

Engagement and outcomes of marginalised young people in an early intervention youth alcohol and other drug program: The Street Universities model

PLOS ONE

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ABSTRACT

Abstract Background Early intervention alcohol and drug (AOD) programs for disadvantaged young people have the potential to substantially decrease the need for future intervention, however there is little research about how young people use these programs or the substance use and other outcomes of such programs. This paper uses data from an Australian AOD early intervention program, The Street Universities, to: describe young people’s participation; examine changes in substance use and wellbeing over 90 days; and assess which young people are most positively impacted Methods Data come from a prospective study of new attendees, measuring retention in and attendance patterns in an ‘engagement’ program focussed on arts and lifestyle activities (n = 95), and a routine service dataset collected from seven years of therapeutic intervention (n = 3,893), measuring substance dependence (SDS), psychological distress (K10) and quality of life (EQoL) Results Analysis reveals that young people were retained in the program at high proportion (63% at six months) and more than half of these returned at a frequency of weekly or more often. Young people participating in the therapeutic component of the program reported significant improvements in all key wellbeing indicators with SDS, K10 and EQoL scores significantly improving (at p < .001). These improvements occurred rapidly, within the first 30 days, and were maintained over the 90 day study period. Moreover, young people with the highest SDS and K10 scores and lowest quality of life at baseline experienced the most positive changes. Conclusion Aligning engagement program with therapeutic intervention can provide comprehensive support to disadvantaged young people, producing substantial improvements in AOD use, distress and wellbeing.

CITATION EXPORT

Theresa Caruana, Limin Mao, Rebecca M Gray et al.. Engagement and outcomes of marginalised young people in an early intervention youth alcohol and other drug program: The Street Universities model. PLOS ONE. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286025

AUTHORS

4 · 2 CENTRES

Theresa Caruana, Limin Mao, Rebecca M Gray, Joanne Bryant

1Centre for Social Research in Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2University of the Witwatersrand, SOUTH AFRICA