(Winters 2007a). There are a number of advantages of schoolbased
How the intervention might work
The goals of BIs are to assess substance use in adolescents, provide
advice on these behaviours, facilitate behaviour change with
regards to substance use, and motivate the adolescents to receive
further treatment if necessary (Bien 1993). The primary focus of
these types of interventions is to systematically target problematic
behaviours (Tevyaw 2004), using a motivational interviewing
framework.
The theoretical basis for BIs is grounded in client-centred therapy,
behavioural therapy, and the transtheoretical model of behaviour
change. The transtheoretical model of behaviour change argues
that readiness for change develops along a series of stages rather
than as a fixed event that either occurs or does not occur. These
steps are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action,
and maintenance, and individuals usually move between these
stages before reaching termination (Prochaska 1993). From this
perspective, motivation is seen as a state that can be altered rather
than a trait that is inherent and cannot be changed. Since BIs are
typically organised around a developmental theory of normative
and non-normative patterns of substance use, this is an appropriate
theoretical orientation for a behaviour change strategy aimed at
adolescents (Winters 2007a).