Development of a structured generic drug intervention model for public health purposes: a brief application of motivational interviewing with young people

Abstract

Brief applications of Motivational Interviewing (MI) emerged around 15 years ago to target problematic alcohol and other drug use. Interventions which specifically target illicit drug use, young people, or which are delivered in settings other than health‐care services have, however, been relatively slow to develop. The needs of young people for interventions distinct from those offered to adults are considered, as a precursor to an outline of the structure of a newly adapted intervention targeting drug use in general among young people. Based upon earlier topic‐based approaches developed by Rollnick et al. this intervention is innovative in simultaneously targeting a range of drugs in pursuit of secondary prevention objectives, while also seeking to manifest the spirit of MI. The intervention consists of a single‐session face‐to‐face conversation of up to 60 minutes duration. Data are presented which describe the development and conduct of this intervention during the course of an efficacy trial, with promising efficacy data themselves reported elsewhere. Observations are made on intervention delivery and consideration is given to implications for further novel targeting of young people and within the field of addiction interventions more generally.