The Ecstasy Check-up: Development and feasibility study of a brief intervention for ecstasy-related problems

NDARC Staff

Jan Copeland, Greg Martin and Paul Dillon

Aims

Rates of ecstasy use have continued to rise over the past 10-15 years, particularly among young people. This intervention project targeted people who used ecstasy but were not necessarily seeking assistance to reduce or cease their ecstasy use. There are no existing services which specifically target this group. Earlier work has shown brief motivational interventions to be useful in ameliorating problematic alcohol and cannabis use. We believe the development of a brief intervention that specifically targets ecstasy use is warranted, will fill a gap in existing services, and has the potential to reduce problematic ecstasy use and related harms. This study will provide data on the feasibility of the intervention and include an assessment of ecstasy-related risk perception among users.

Design and Method

This project will develop and assess the feasibility of Check-up style model that incorporates a brief motivational enhancement and cognitive-behavioural intervention. A randomised controlled trial was conducted with 25 participants receiving the Ecstasy Check-up (ECU) and 25 participants receiving brief educational material only. Both groups received a brief assessment of their ecstasy related risk-perception. This study provided further information on patterns of use and risk-perception in addition to the feasibility of the intervention and an indicator of its ability to attract clients and of their treatment outcome three months post assessment. The advantage of a small randomised controlled trial is that it provided an indication of the effect of the intervention controlling for the influence of time.

Benefits

Output

Funding

Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing