Improving Initial Session Attendance of Substance Abusing and Conduct Disordered Adolescents: A Controlled Study

The present controlled study was the first to demonstrate a method of improving first session attendance in a population of conduct disordered and substance abusing adolescents. The results indicated that an intensive intervention involving the youth and parent was more effective in improving session attendance than a less intensive intervention that excluded the youth's involvement. The intensive intervention resulted in greater attendance to the first appointment (60% vs. 89%), greater attendance to appointments throughout the study (57% vs. 83%), and greater promptness to sessions that were attended (5.8 mins. vs. 0.8 mins.). Implications of this study are discussed in light of these results.