2.3. Procedure
2.3.1. Subject recruitment
Over a 26-month period, students between the ages of 13
and 17 years and who presented for a chemical health
assessment at participating public school systems in the
Twin Cities metro area were potentially eligible for inclusion
in the research study. A chemical health assessment is
conducted by a school's counselor if the student is (a) caught
using drugs during school, (b) caught with drugs on his or
her possession, or (c) referred by a teacher due to concerns
that the student was using drugs. If in the counselor's
judgment the student did not have a serious mental health
problem and if there was no need for the counselor to report
the family to social services because of abuse or suicide, then
a recommendation was made to the parents that their son or
daughter receive a referral for an assessment by the research
staff to determine study eligibility. Study eligibility required
that the student (a) be between 13 and 18 years of age; (b)
scored 26 or greater (a cut point indicating at least a mild
drug abuse problem) on a drug abuse screening questionnaire,
the Personal Experience Screening Questionnaire
(PESQ; Winters, 1992); (c) is not currently receiving
treatment in another drug treatment program (nine screened
out due to receiving current drug treatment); (d) not report
during the research assessment the presence of an acute
psychiatric problem or medical condition (e.g., suicidal,
mental retardation; no cases were screened out for this
reason); and (e) agreed to participate along with the parent
(26 students declined participation). The school does not
provide any in-school intervention or treatment services;
thus, our intervention was unique to the school system.