Substance Use Screening to Encourage Behavior Change Among Young People in Primary Care

This study evaluates whether completing a short screening questionnaire about health behaviours in the waiting room before a primary care consultation decreases excessive substance use in young people aged 14 to 24 years. Young people consulting a primary care physician will randomly receive either a questionnaire about substance use or a questionnaire about physical activity. They will be contacted again 3, 6 and 12 months later and asked to complete a questionnaire about substance use. The proportion of young people with excessive substance use in each group will be compared. The researchers hypothesise that at three months this proportion will be lower in the group of young people having completed the initial questionnaire about substance use when compared to the group having completed the questionnaire about physical activity.