Drug UseTEXT2NCT04446910
Using Technology to Reduce Youth Substance Use
A study testing SMS Text Messaging Plus and SMS Text Messaging in people with Drug Use, run by University of California, San Francisco at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The research project will focus on conducting a trial of whether a tailored SMS text-messaging intervention is efficacious in improving justice-involved youths' substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 13 to 18 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Drug Use
- What is being tested?
- SMS Text Messaging Plus and SMS Text Messaging
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 50 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 May 2020to 1 Apr 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 13 to 18 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child, Adult
Who may be able to join
- English-speaking youth with willing adult caregiver
- Ages 13-18
- Justice-involved while living in the community
- Own a mobile phone or tablet
- Are willing to send and receive text messages
- Are referred to community-based substance use and/or mental health treatment
Who cannot join
- -
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
UCSF Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
San Francisco, California, 94131
About this study
The research project will focus on conducting a trial of whether a tailored SMS text-messaging intervention is efficacious in improving justice-involved youths' substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement.
Read the detailed description
The study will demonstrate how delivery of motivational/coaching messages to justice-involved youth and their caregivers will lead to greater youth substance use treatment attendance and engagement. The study will start with identifying the feasibility and acceptability of the SMS text-messaging intervention with community-supervised justice-involved youth. Then, the study will determine whether the tailored dyadic (youth and caregiver) "SMS text-messaging plus" intervention (appointment reminder texts plus motivational message texts) improves youth substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement relative to the "SMS text messaging" comparison (only appointment reminder texts). Finally, the study will characterize patterns of key justice and behavioral health system-level factors that promote or hinder eventual adoption and sustainability of mHealth technology as a tool to improve treatment attendance for justice-involved youth.
- Conditions
- Drug Use
- Being tested
- SMS Text Messaging Plus, SMS Text Messaging
- Keywords
- Adolescent, Juvenile justice, text messaging, Substance use, mHealth
- Medical subject headings
- Substance-Related Disorders
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
SMS Text Messaging PlusBehavioural
SMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days to encourage attendance at community-based substance use or dual diagnosis treatment appointments through treatment appointment reminders plus motivational messages
SMS Text MessagingBehavioural
SMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days that included only treatment appointment reminders
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| SMS Text Messaging Plus | Experimental | SMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days to encourage attendance at community-based substance use or dual diagnosis treatment appointments through treatment appointment reminders plus motivational messages Receives: Behavioral: SMS Text Messaging Plus |
| SMS Text Messaging | Active comparator | SMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days that included only treatment appointment reminders Receives: Behavioral: SMS Text Messaging |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Treatment Attendance
Youth's percentage of treatment sessions attended as separately self-reported by youth and caregivers.
Measured: 90 days post baseline
Secondary outcomes (6)
Alcohol Use
The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) alcohol use. These data represent the number of youth who endorsed any alcohol use in the past 90 days
Measured: 90 days post baseline
Drug Use
The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) cannabis and other drug use. These data represent the number of youth who endorsed any drug use in the past 90 days
Measured: 90 days post baseline
Tobacco Use
The Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment (ARBA) is used to assess quantity and frequency of previous (lifetime and past 90 days) cannabis and other drug use. These data represent the number of youth who endorsed any tobacco use in the past 90 days
Measured: 90 days post baseline
In Mental Health Treatment at 90 Day Follow up
Treatment Status and Attendance Youth survey is used to gather detailed information about type of treatment the youth is attending.
Measured: 90 days post baseline
In Substance Use Treatment at 90 Day Follow up
Treatment Status and Attendance Youth survey is used to gather detailed information about type of treatment the youth is attending.
Measured: 90 days post baseline
In Dual Diagnosis (Mental Health and Substance Use) Treatment at 90 Day Follow up
Treatment Status and Attendance Youth survey is used to gather detailed information about type of treatment the youth is attending.
Measured: 90 days post baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted25 Jun 2020
- Study start1 May 2020
- Primary completion1 Apr 2025
- Study completion1 Apr 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for Drug UseStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, San FranciscoThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- This is a hybrid 1 effectiveness-implementation design in which the investigators will test a theory-driven digital health (i.e., SMS text-messaging) treatment engagement intervention while also collecting data on the text messaging platform's potential implementation and adoption within juvenile justice and behavioral health settings.
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 50 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, San Francisco
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Marina Tolou-Shams, PhD, Principal investigator, University of California, San Francisco
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04446910
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 1K24DA046569-01A1
- Other IDs
- 1K24DA046569-01A1
- Acronym
- TEXT2
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 7 May 2020
- Last updated
- 24 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Using Technology to Reduce Youth Substance Use
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04446910
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- TEXT2 / 1K24DA046569-01A1
- Conditions
- Drug Use
- Keywords
- Adolescent, Juvenile justice, text messaging, Substance use, mHealth
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 50 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, San FranciscoUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Study start
- 1 May 2020 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 1 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 1 Apr 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 25 Jun 2020 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 1 Sep 2026
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The research project will focus on conducting a trial of whether a tailored SMS text-messaging intervention is efficacious in improving justice-involved youths' substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement.
Detailed description
The study will demonstrate how delivery of motivational/coaching messages to justice-involved youth and their caregivers will lead to greater youth substance use treatment attendance and engagement. The study will start with identifying the feasibility and acceptability of the SMS text-messaging intervention with community-supervised justice-involved youth. Then, the study will determine whether the tailored dyadic (youth and caregiver) "SMS text-messaging plus" intervention (appointment reminder texts plus motivational message texts) improves youth substance use or dual diagnosis treatment attendance and engagement relative to the "SMS text messaging" comparison (only appointment reminder texts). Finally, the study will characterize patterns of key justice and behavioral health system-level factors that promote or hinder eventual adoption and sustainability of mHealth technology as a tool to improve treatment attendance for justice-involved youth.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- This is a hybrid 1 effectiveness-implementation design in which the investigators will test a theory-driven digital health (i.e., SMS text-messaging) treatment engagement intervention while also collecting data on the text messaging platform's potential implementation and adoption within juvenile justice and behavioral health settings.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| SMS Text Messaging Plus | Experimental | Behavioral: SMS Text Messaging PlusSMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days to encourage attendance at community-based substance use or dual diagnosis treatment appointments through treatment appointment reminders plus motivational messages |
| SMS Text Messaging | Active comparator | Behavioral: SMS Text MessagingSMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days that included only treatment appointment reminders |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 13 to 18 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult
Key inclusion criteria (6 listed)
- English-speaking youth with willing adult caregiver
- Ages 13-18
- Justice-involved while living in the community
- Own a mobile phone or tablet
- Are willing to send and receive text messages
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- -
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| SMS Text Messaging PlusSMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days to encourage attendance at community-based substance use or dual diagnosis treatment appointments through treatment appointment reminders plus motivational messages | Behavioural | SMS Text Messaging Plus |
| SMS Text MessagingSMS text messaging intervention for a period of 90 days that included only treatment appointment reminders | Behavioural | SMS Text Messaging |
Primary outcome
Treatment Attendance
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
Youth's percentage of treatment sessions attended as separately self-reported by youth and caregivers.
6 secondary outcomes
Alcohol Use
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
Drug Use
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
Tobacco Use
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
In Mental Health Treatment at 90 Day Follow up
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
In Substance Use Treatment at 90 Day Follow up
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
In Dual Diagnosis (Mental Health and Substance Use) Treatment at 90 Day Follow up
Time frame: 90 days post baseline
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Sep 2026.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Marina Tolou-Shams, PhD principal investigator
University of California, San Francisco
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing SMS Text Messaging Plus and SMS Text Messaging in people with Drug Use, run by University of California, San Francisco at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 6 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 1 Sep 2026). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Treatment Attendance (time frame: 90 days post baseline). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Sep 2026.