Guiding Good Choices for Health

Guiding Good Choices is a 5-session group-based prevention program for parents of early adolescents. Weekly 2.5 hour sessions will be held at participants' primary care clinics and led by two trained interventionists. Through didactic material, video segments, interactive activities, and home practice, the curriculum teaches parents to understand the progression from individual and environmental risk and protective factors to substance use and problem behavior, enhances parenting behaviors and skills, teaches effective family management skills, strengthens parent-adolescent interactions and bonding, broadens opportunities for family involvement, teaches conflict reduction and anger management skills, and teaches adolescents skills to resist peer influences to engage in risky behavior. Parents who opt not to attend groups will be offered a self-guided intervention manual containing the same core content and video access, plus supportive coaching to motivate use and address questions.