Tackling Teen Substance Use with Research

Communities nationwide are affected by youth alcohol and drug problems. The prevalence of drinking among youth nationally is close 43%; in Massachusetts it is even higher at 48 percent. Addressing adolescent substance use has become a priority in Boston’s MetroWest region. Backed by generous grants from the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation, eleven local towns are spearheading an effort to improve prevention, intervention and access to treatment for youth.

While lack of understanding and denial about the problem sometimes immobilize communities, these MetroWest towns are making steady progress by using research to guide their efforts. They are examining local data on adolescent alcohol and drug use as well as relying on research-based programs and strategies to address these issues.

“We realized that in order for these communities to have an impact on adolescent substance abuse, they had to have access to the best research available,” says Martin Cohen, President of the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation. “That meant they needed not only research about what strategies work best, but also local data on youth drinking and drug use and other related behaviors that could give them a realistic picture of the situation in their towns.”

So the Foundation funded HHD to administer an adolescent health survey, based on the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, to middle and high school students in the region every other year for 10 years. Given to 23,000 teens beginning in 2006, the survey assesses seven risk areas: alcohol and other drug use, tobacco use, violence, suicide, sexual behaviors, physical activity, and dietary behaviors. Each community receives data on their own town so they can target areas of concern and monitor progress.

The Foundation also funded HHD to create the MetroWest Technical Assistance Center (MTAC) to provide the eleven communities with customized guidance. For the past three years MTAC has worked closely with these communities helping them assess youth risk and protective factors, and their community readiness, and then matching them with evidence-based strategies.

In one community, local leaders came together to evaluate how they had been handling teen substance use. This led to, among other things, the development of a task force that examined school and community substance use policies, determining where there were gaps and making recommendations for improvements. According to Diane Barry, MTAC’s Project Director, communication around policies, infractions and enforcement are improving in this town. In addition, the community now has a creative parent education strategy that has reached over 550 parents and a research-based high school prevention curriculum.

With research as the cornerstone of their approach, communities in Boston’s MetroWest region are strengthening their efforts to address teen alcohol and drug use.