# Integrated Treatment for Enhancing Growth in Recovery during Adolescence (InTEGRA)

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2024 · $745,221

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Approximately 10% of adolescents are diagnosed with an alcohol or other drug (AOD) use
disorder each year in the U.S. Such disorders increase risk of premature mortality and morbidity and confer negative effects
on social and neurocognitive functioning, biobehavioral maturation, and the achievement of developmental milestones.
Despite advances in intervention research for adolescent AOD,1-4 the science base, in general, has lagged sorely behind that
of adults.5-7 Furthermore, few studies have tested effective treatment models that can sustain youth remission over time as
adolescents navigate the high-risk period of emerging adulthood. While many different interventions for youth AOD
disorders have been developed and tested producing similar results,1 absent is one that links youth to ubiquitous, freely
available, community recovery resources, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). Systematic
clinical linkages to these 12-step community resources have the potential to extend and enhance formal interventions’ effects
because they have been shown to mobilize the same kinds of therapeutic mechanisms mobilized by formal treatments (e.g.,
by enhancing motivation/self-efficacy, changing social networks),8, 9 but do so for free and over the long-term in the
community.10, 11 The evidence in support of adult participation in these organizations has grown substantially with findings
supporting clinic-based Twelve-Step Facilitation (TSF)12-17 interventions and community 12-step group participation12, 18, 19
in enhancing remission rates while reducing health costs.20-22 In more recent years, several naturalistic studies have examined
the clinical and public health utility of systematically linking young people with these prevalent resources 23-31 showing
long-term benefits from AA/NA8, 28, 30 and in reducing health care costs,31 similar to adults. While dozens of studies have
tested adult TSF efficacy,17, 32, 33 until recently, none had tested youth TSF efficacy, despite 80% of youth programs using
12-step practices and linkage.28, 34 In the first NIH-funded study to develop and test a replicable, manualized, adolescent
TSF, however, we found that youth randomly assigned to receive a novel combination treatment (Integrated Treatment for
Enhancing Growth in Recovery during Adolescence [InTEGRA]) that incorporated key elements of TSF in addition to
Motivational Enhancement Therapy/Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (MET/CBT), showed moderate-large clinically
meaningful advantages that grew across follow-ups when compared to youth receiving MET/CBT alone. They also attended
two to three times as many 12-step meetings during treatment, with 12-step attendees showing significantly greater
abstinence.35 Given initial efficacy and potential for widespread adoption and implementation,34, 36, 37 InTEGRA now needs
to be tested in a larger sample, with additional emphases on how (i.e., mechanisms) and for whom (i.e., moderator...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10870216
- **Project number:** 5R01AA030926-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** YIFRAH KAMINER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $745,221
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-06-20 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10870216

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10870216, Integrated Treatment for Enhancing Growth in Recovery during Adolescence (InTEGRA) (5R01AA030926-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10870216. Licensed CC0.

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