# Preventing Drug Use Onset and Progression toward Addiction during a CriticalTransition Period: Optimizing an Online Intervention for High School Seniors

> **NIH NIH R01** · PREVENTION STRATEGIES, LLC · 2024 · $569,971

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The overall objective of the proposed research is to optimize a readily scalable online behavioral intervention
that will prevent and reduce substance use (SU) among young adults. Rates of SU escalate rapidly after 12th
grade among both college students and nonstudent young adults, peaking between ages 20-25 years, yet
there are few preventive interventions for nonstudent young adults. Further, existing interventions for college
students and nonstudent young adults occur after rates of SU jump. Thus, there is a critical need for new
interventions that can prevent alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among young adults, as well as address
the growing public health crisis of vaping. We will address this need by targeting high school seniors during a
critical transition period. Our intervention is grounded in a developmental, social influences perspective and
targets multiple social influences, which are the strongest predictors of SU among adolescents and young
adults. Building on the success of past norms-based interventions, we propose using normative education in a
novel way to change norms about bystander intervention strategies and norms about protective behavioral
strategies. Further, we will use Human Centered Design (HCD) and the Multiphase Optimization Strategy
(MOST) to iteratively engage key stakeholders in designing and strengthening the first ever optimized SU
intervention for high school seniors. In addition, we will also test individual (e.g., demographic; behavioral
characteristics) and contextual (e.g., social network and school characteristics) moderators of component
efficacy. To increase the generalizability of our findings, we will recruit a diverse population of high school
seniors, including those who do and do not plan to attend college, from over 50 high schools. Our Specific
Aims are to: (1) design an initial set of six theory-based online intervention components targeting social
influences linked to SU; (2) Evaluate the effect of each component on its targeted mediating variables using a
fully powered cluster-randomized optimization trial (Trial I); (3) Revise less effective components; and 4)
Evaluate the long-term efficacy of each revised component on its targeted mediators, SU, and secondary
behavioral outcomes using a second cluster-randomized optimization trial (Trial II). By using HCD to identify
and address stakeholders needs and by using MOST to evaluate individual intervention components, our
research will result in an efficient, optimized, readily scalable SU intervention that can be quickly disseminated
to high schools across the U.S. Our work will advance prevention science in three important ways: (1) We will
demonstrate that a brief universal online intervention for high school seniors can prevent SU among young
adults; (2) We will test several novel intervention strategies (i.e., using normative education to change norms
about other behaviors linked to SU; targeting anticipatory soci...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10980808
- **Project number:** 1R01DA058697-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** PREVENTION STRATEGIES, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly Lin Rulison
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $569,971
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-15 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10980808

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10980808, Preventing Drug Use Onset and Progression toward Addiction during a CriticalTransition Period: Optimizing an Online Intervention for High School Seniors (1R01DA058697-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10980808. Licensed CC0.

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