Screening and Brief Interventions (SBIs) such as SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) and Motivational Interviewing (MI) are typically provided to students one-on-one.
A more efficient strategy, however, is to provide SBIs in school, college and community settings to groups, classrooms and teams of youth and young adults.
A recently published study in JAMA Network Open (2022) found that a screening and brief intervention in schools reduced substance use among middle school and female students: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2795181
School-based brief interventions have also been identified as effective for reducing alcohol use by the National Institute of Justice and Crime Solutions (2022): https://crimesolutions.ojp.gov/ratedpractices/school-based-brief-interventions-substance-use-among-youth
Meanwhile, others have written about how MI can be adopted for use in groups of students in schools: School-Based Motivational Interviewing: Promoting Student Success One Conversation at a Time (nasponline.org)
In addition, the SBIRT-based Teen Intervene program can be provided to youth in small groups: SBIRT Quick Guide: Brief Interventions | California School-Based Health Alliance (schoolhealthcenters.org)
Similarly, Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) SBIs include group-based scripted protocols for providing brief alcohol, marijuana, e-cigarette and opioid use prevention interventions to young people in schools, colleges and even military settings.
These scripts allow the implementation of school-based PPW SBIs by nearly anyone, even youth peers, with just a short 1–2-hour online program implementer training.
Scripted protocols, along with program PowerPoint slides, increase implementation ease and fidelity.
Lastly, the targeting of healthy lifestyle behaviors in PPW SBIs increase intervention interest, salience and potential for stronger and broader outcomes among youth and young adults.
Learn more about PPW SBIs: https://preventionpluswellness.com/blogs/news/prevention-needs-to-do-more-than-prevent