Hospital ER’s are often the main point of medical care for teens in urban and underserved areas across the country.
And many are treated for injuries from violence or alcohol misuse.
A new study from the journal of the American medical association shows offering these teens a brief structured intervention while in the ER, can reduce the risk of future injury.
Today life for many urban American teenagers is a lot harder to navigate. Deciding who to hang out with or even who to play basketball with can make a difference.
It can be really tough, especially when dealing with violence and drinking.
“Don’t try to make the problem bigger where you can make it littler, you can talk to the person about it or you know, just avoid it,” Jevon Harvey said.
16-year old Jevon Harvey uses those words when talking to other teens about violent situations and alcohol. He’s in school, stayed away from the wrong people and now volunteers in his community.
“We aimed to provide a brief intervention during the time that teens are in the emergency department to decrease their future violence and alcohol misuse over the next several months,” Dr. Rebecca M. Cunningham, University of Michigan said.
“We randomly assigned them to three conditions, one was a therapist brief intervention, the second was a brief intervention delivered exclusively by a computer with audio and the third condition was a usual care control condition where they got a brochure,” Maureen A. Walton, Ph.D., University of Michigan said.
Doctors Maureen Walton and Rebecca Cunningham from the University of Michigan and co-authors conducted a randomized controlled trial at Hurley Hospital in Flint, Michigan. They studied more than 3300 patients age 14 to 18 years admitted to Hurley’s Emergency Department between noon and 11 at night, seven days a week from September 2006 to September 2009.
“The therapist brief intervention showed twice the reduction in peer violence, peer victimization and violence consequences than the control,” Walton said.
“The computer intervention alone decreased the teens alcohol related problems such as missing school, their problems with their family related to alcohol misuse for up to six months following an ER visit,” Cunningham said.
The study appears in a theme issue on violence and human rights in this week’s Jama, Journal of the American Medical Association.
“You ask open ended questions as opposed to telling them what to do, what do you think about that and then following that you talk to them and give them some tools for different situations,” Walton said.
“It’s important as we talk to teens to help them realize that there are ways that it’s possible to change behaviors and it’s possible to stay out of and get out of risky situations that they may encounter,” Cunningham said.
“The findings of this study suggest that a 30 minute brief intervention can positively change these adolescents’ behaviors,” Walton said.
Researchers hope this structured intervention can be replicated in other emergency departments around the country.
