The Business of Recovery: A Novel Pilot Study Psychosocial Intervention to Build Self-Efficacy and Reduce Relapse Risk in Adolescent Substance Use Treatment
ORCID
MSU Affiliation
College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Psychology
Creation Date
2025-11-03
Abstract
Introduction: Relapse rates following adolescent substance use disorder (SUD) treatment remain high, highlighting a need for innovative interventions that improve engagement and target key psychosocial mechanisms of recovery. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, this pilot study evaluated a novel, strength-based Entrepreneurial Education Program (EEP) designed to reduce relapse risk by increasing self-efficacy, positive affect, and emotion regulation.Methods: Twenty-seven adolescent males (M age = 15.18) in residential SUD treatment were assigned to either the EEP intervention (n = 15) or a treatment-as-usual control group (n = 12). The EEP consisted of four weekly sessions integrating entrepreneurial skill-building with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) principles. Validated measures of self-efficacy, affect, emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and stress were administered at baseline and post-intervention (4 weeks).Results: Between-group analyses showed the EEP group had a significantly greater improvement in self-efficacy (p = 0.019) and greater reductions in anxiety (p < 0.001) and stress (p = 0.04) compared to the control group. Between-group differences for emotion regulation and positive affect were not statistically significant.Conclusions: A brief, entrepreneurship-focused psychosocial intervention can effectively target critical antecedents of relapse in adolescents with SUD. By building self-efficacy and improving affect regulation in an engaging, non-traditional format, the EEP shows promise as an adjunctive therapy to enhance treatment outcomes. Future research should include larger, more diverse samples and long-term behavioral follow-up.
Publication Date
9-5-2025
Publication Title
Addictive Behaviors
Publisher
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
McKay, I. T., & Nadorff, D. K. (2025). The business of recovery: A novel pilot study psychosocial intervention to build self-efficacy and reduce relapse risk in adolescent substance use treatment. Addictive Behaviors, 171, 108473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2025.108473
