Online training to help mentors and staff support youth affected by substance misuse
Official title: Substance of Change: Evaluation of Web-Based Training for Mentors and Staff Serving Youth Impacted by Substance Misuse
Funded at Innovation Research and Training, INC. · NIH-11189683 · Data updated 2026-11-12
An interactive online course to help mentors and youth‑service staff better support children and teens affected by their own or a parent's substance misuse.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Innovation Research and Training, INC. NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Durham, United States) |
| Project start | September 15, 2024 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $264,000 |
| NIH project number | 5R34DA058874-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11189683 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Mentors, volunteer adults, and program staff who currently work with children and adolescents (commonly ages ~12–17) affected by substance misuse are the ideal participants for this project.
✕Less likely to help
Youth with no exposure to substance misuse or those who need intensive clinical treatment for a severe substance use disorder are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this mentor-training program.
What this research studies
If your child has been affected by substance misuse, this project offers an interactive, multimedia online course called Substance of Change (SOC) for the mentors and staff who support them. Mentors and staff complete web modules that build on core pre‑match training and add skills for issues like aggression, truancy, and family substance use. The researchers will track mentor and staff outcomes such as knowledge, confidence, and mentoring relationship quality using online surveys and course usage data before and after the training. The hope is that better-trained mentors will provide more stable support that helps youth do better in behavior and at school.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the training could help mentors form stronger, longer-lasting relationships that improve affected youths' behavior and school engagement.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research links mentor and staff training to better mentoring quality and youth outcomes, but an asynchronous web-based program specifically for youth affected by substance misuse is new and untested.
Where this research is happening
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Innovation Research and Training, INC.
Durham, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kupersmidt, Janis B — Innovation Research and Training, INC.
- Study coordinator: Kupersmidt, Janis B
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.