Martin 2008.
Methods | RCT. | |
Participants | 40 non‐treatment‐seeking adolescent cannabis users from Australia aged 14‐19 years. | |
Interventions | Two‐session brief intervention (n= 20) vs a 3‐month delayed‐treatment control condition (n= 20). | |
Outcomes |
Physiological primary: Urine test. Non‐physiological primary: Days of cannabis use, mean quantity of cannabis used weekly, and number of DSM‐IV dependence symptoms. Secondary: None. |
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Notes | Intervention is referred to as ACCU (Adolescent Cannabis Check‐up). | |
Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Low risk | "The randomisation sequence was generated by a computer random number generator." |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Low risk | "...participants were randomly allocated to one of the two conditions by means of a sequence of labelled cards contained within numbered sealed (opaque) envelopes that were prepared by an independent researcher and opened in the presence of the participant." |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Patients and providers | Low risk | No blinding, but most outcomes were physiological and also used to validate self‐reports, and not likely to be influenced by lack of blinding. |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Assessors | Low risk | "Participants were followed up by an independent researcher 3 months after their last involvement with the project." Most outcomes were physiological and also used to validate self‐reports, and not likely to be influenced by lack of blinding. |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | 20% were lost to follow‐up. Equal attrition across groups. Intention to treat conducted. Reasons for attrition not reported. |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Low risk | The published report included all expected outcomes based on the study purposes. |
Other bias | Unclear risk | Urinanalysis to validate self‐report. The treatment group reported significantly more days of cannabis use in the past 90 days than the control group. |