GAPS (COMPLETED)

Guided Adolescent Problem Solving (GAPS) was a 5-year project funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; 5R01AA013369-01). GAPS provided school-based individual interventions primarily to adolescents of Hispanic/Latinx, African-American, and Haitian descent attending Miami-Dade County alternative high schools affiliated with Communities in Schools-Miami (CIS-M). The aim of the study was to develop effective school-based Guided Self-Change (GSC) interventions for adolescents with alcohol and aggressive behavior problems. Additional aims of the study included examining treatment response related to race/ethnicity and sex. Adolescents attending alternative schools often presented with a combination of substance use and behavioral problems, including aggressive behaviors. Findings showed that teens in the intervention condition reported significant reductions in drinking, marijuana use, and aggressive behavior as compared to the assessment only condition.

Co-Principal Investigators: Andres Gil, Ph.D. & Eric Wagner, Ph.D.

Co-Investigators: Jonathan Tubman, Ph.D., Mark Macgowan, Ph.D., Staci Leon Morris, Psy.D., & Fred Newman, Ph.D.

References:

• Wagner, E.F., Graziano, J.N., Morris, S.L., & Gil, A.G. (2014). A randomized controlled trial of guided self-change with minority adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(6), 1128. doi:10.1037/a0036939
• Wagner, E.F., Hospital, M.M., Graziano, J.N., Morris, S.L. & Gil, A.G.  Examining the effectiveness of a school-based motivational interviewing alcohol intervention with minority adolescents.  Poster presented at Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), Atlanta, GA, 2011

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