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Engagement and outcomes of marginalised young people in an early intervention youth alcohol and other drug program: The Street Universities model

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  • Theresa Caruana
  • Limin Mao
  • Rebecca M Gray
  • Joanne Bryant

Abstract

Background: Early intervention alcohol and drug (AOD) programs for disadvantaged young people have the potential to substantially decrease the need for future intervention, however there is little research about how young people use these programs or the substance use and other outcomes of such programs. This paper uses data from an Australian AOD early intervention program, The Street Universities, to: describe young people’s participation; examine changes in substance use and wellbeing over 90 days; and assess which young people are most positively impacted Methods: Data come from a prospective study of new attendees, measuring retention in and attendance patterns in an ‘engagement’ program focussed on arts and lifestyle activities (n = 95), and a routine service dataset collected from seven years of therapeutic intervention (n = 3,893), measuring substance dependence (SDS), psychological distress (K10) and quality of life (EQoL) Results: Analysis reveals that young people were retained in the program at high proportion (63% at six months) and more than half of these returned at a frequency of weekly or more often. Young people participating in the therapeutic component of the program reported significant improvements in all key wellbeing indicators with SDS, K10 and EQoL scores significantly improving (at p

Suggested Citation

  • Theresa Caruana & Limin Mao & Rebecca M Gray & Joanne Bryant, 2023. "Engagement and outcomes of marginalised young people in an early intervention youth alcohol and other drug program: The Street Universities model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0286025
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286025
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thompson, Sanna J. & McManus, Holly & Lantry, Janet & Windsor, Liliane & Flynn, Patrick, 2006. "Insights from the street: Perceptions of services and providers by homeless young adults," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 34-43, February.
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