An interventional study of Project ALERT and Getting to Outcomes in Substance Abuse, sponsored by RAND. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 11 Years to 70 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-20.
Sponsored by RAND · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
To test the efficacy of Project ALERT with the support enhancement tool, Getting To Outcomes.
This study combines two programs that have been developed by RAND researchers: Project ALERT (PA) and Getting to Outcomes (GTO). Project ALERT is a widely used drug prevention program for middle school youth. Though it has an evidence-base for effectiveness, the program (like most evidence-based programs in schools) is not run with adequate fidelity representing a large gap between what is developed and tested for effectiveness and what is used in actual practice. Thus, the study will conduct an updated randomized controlled trial of PA and test GTO as a tool to increase adoption and adequate fidelity of the program in schools. GTO's previous evidence suggests it could be effective in public schools, yet this remains an empirical question. A successful demonstration of PA and GTO could fundamentally transform evidence-based prevention's delivery, reach, and thus impact, in the US.
2,124 studies on the registry are indexed under Substance-Related Disorders; 393 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 42 is below the median of 108 across 1,727 interventional studies indexed under Substance-Related Disorders.
Browse Substance-Related Disorders studies →RAND is the lead sponsor of 110 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Note: the age range is from 11 to 70 to account for both the student AND teacher populations.
Some schools will be randomized to receive Project ALERT only for 3 years starting fall 2022.
Behavioral: Project ALERT
Some schools will be randomized to receive Project ALERT plus Getting to Outcomes for 3 years starting fall 2022.
Behavioral: Project ALERT · Behavioral: Getting to Outcomes
Some schools not receive either Project ALERT or Project ALERT plus GTO until year 3 of the study.
14 session drug prevention program for 7th and 8th grade youth.
The Getting To Outcomes (GTO) implementation support intervention provides technical assistance, training, guides, and tools to improve community-based practitioners capacity to complete tasks associated with implementing an EBP, which in turn leads to improved implementation fidelity.
Student alcohol and drug behavior
Alcohol and drug use will be assessed for alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, e-cigarettes, prescription opioids, and heroin (lifetime, past month, past year use), allowing us to evaluate program effects on ever, past month, and weekly use. We will assess marijuana and nicotine using items to capture nuanced products (e.g., JUUL/vape pens) and include combinations of marijuana/nicotine products to assess co-use, such as using a vaporizer to vape both nicotine e-liquid and cannabis oil. For alcohol, we will ask questions that allow us to construct 3 alcohol misuse scales: (1) alcohol-related consequences (sum of 5 dichotomous questions on: getting sick, getting in a physical fight, getting in trouble at school, getting in trouble at home, doing something he/she later regretted); (2) high-risk drinking (sum of 3 dichotomous variables: binge drinking in the past month, polydrug use of alcohol and marijuana in the past year, weekly drinking); and (3) overall misuse (sum of above 8 variables).
Time frame: Changes assessed for past year use at each follow-up point from baseline
Student pro-substance use risk factors on consequences
Beliefs about the short- and long-term consequences (positive and negative). Measures come from the Project ALERT survey posted on the Project ALERT website and utilized in the 4 prior RCTs of Project ALERT.
Time frame: Changes assessed for past year consequences of use at each follow-up point from baseline
Student resistance self-efficacy
Resistance self-efficacy from the Project ALERT survey measures avoiding use of all 6 drugs in risky situations. Measure is posted on the Project ALERT website and utilized in the 4 prior RCTs of Project ALERT.
Time frame: Changes assessed for past year self-efficacy use at each follow-up point from baseline
Student pro-substance use risk factors on perceived norms
Normative beliefs about the prevalence of use and its acceptability to others, including peers and parents. Measures come from the Project ALERT survey posted on the Project ALERT website and utilized in the 4 prior RCTs of Project ALERT.
Time frame: Changes assessed for past year perceived peer use at each follow-up point from baseline
Student pro-substance use risk factors on expectancies
Expectations of drug use in the next 6 months. Measures come from the Project ALERT survey posted on the Project ALERT website and utilized in the 4 prior RCTs of Project ALERT.
Time frame: Changes assessed for past year use at each follow-up point from baseline
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: No
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in May 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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