The Role of Advocacy in Adolescent Health Policy and Practice Change

This paper examines advocacy and policy components of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Substance Use Prevention Initiative.

The Initiative’s grantees addressed local, state and federal policies to support long-term implementation of adolescent screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT), as well as other substance use disorder prevention and cannabis policy strategies. Organizations and agencies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse recommend routine youth screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment. Grantees contributed to grassroots initiatives to promote youth SBIRT in pediatric primary care, school settings, juvenile justice programs, and community-based programs across the nation

This paper explores how advocacy can help raise awareness about the importance and promise of SBIRT as a youth-setting framework to prevention, enhance understanding around substance use issues, and drive policy change to ultimately minimize barriers to SBIRT adoption in a variety of settings.