Aneni receives grant to develop digital substance use intervention for Black teens

Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) Assistant Professor Uche Aneni recently received a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Career Development Award for the development of a family-based digital intervention to address early substance misuse among Black adolescents. This work promotes training in community-engaged research through the development of culturally tailored family-based digital interventions and implementation science methods.

Specifically, the project will be focused on developing and evaluating an innovative and culturally tailored family-based video game called FamilyBond. The main goal is to prevent increases in substance misuse by urban Black teens who have been identified with early substance use in primary care settings.

“This study will provide a novel family-based digital intervention designed to lower intentions to misuse substances among urban Black adolescents,” notes Aneni. “The intervention addresses barriers to accessing care among Black adolescents and their parents by delivering a mobile videogame intervention in primary care settings where they already receive care.”

A child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist, Aneni also serves as principal investigator of the ACCESS Lab at the YCSC. The overall goal of her research is to improve access to preventive interventions for adolescents at risk for substance use and mental health problems. Her research interests focus on developing, testing, and implementing preventive digital interventions, particularly culturally informed family-based interventions for racial/ethnic minorities in community-based settings.