Abstract
This article advances ideas presented at a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop in 2022 that highlighted clinical practice and policy recommendations for delivering universal, family-focused substance use preventive interventions in pediatric primary care. Pediatric primary care is a natural setting in which to offer families universal anticipatory guidance and links to systematic prevention programming; also, several studies have shown that offering effective parenting programs in primary care is feasible. The article describes a blueprint for designing a pragmatic national agenda for universal substance use prevention in primary care that builds on prior work. Blueprint practice schematics leverage efficacious family-focused prevention programs, identify key program implementation challenges and resources, and emphasize adopting a core element approach and utilizing digital interventions. Blueprint policy schematics specify avenues for improving cross-sector policy and resource alignment and collaboration; expanding, diversifying, and strengthening the prevention workforce; and enhancing financing for family-focused prevention approaches. The article then draws from these schematics to assemble a candidate universal prevention toolkit tailored for adolescent patients that contains four interlocking components: education in positive parenting practices, parent and youth education in substance use risks, a parent-youth structured interaction task, and parent and youth linkage to in-person and web-based prevention resources.
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Preparation of this article was supported in part by the Family Involvement in Recovery Support and Treatment (FIRST) Research Network, which is co-funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R24DA051946; PI: Hogue).
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This article expands upon ideas presented at a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop (May 2022): “Family-Focused Interventions to Prevent Substance Use Disorders in Adolescence.” All authors, excepting the first author, are listed in alphabetical order. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine or the National Institutes of Health. The authors are grateful to Sean Dunnsue, Alexandra MacLean, and Mari Watkins for their editing contributions.
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Hogue, A., Brykman, K., Guilamo-Ramos, V. et al. Family-Focused Universal Substance Use Prevention in Primary Care: Advancing a Pragmatic National Healthcare Agenda. Prev Sci 25, 307–317 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01584-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01584-4