INVEST/CTN Drug Abuse Research Fellow Rushit Ismajli, M.D., M.Sci., spent his fellowship with Dennis M. Donovan, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, examining risk behavior among adolescents in Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo. Currently, little data exist on the risk behaviors and substance use of young people in the city; therefore, Dr. Ismajli proposed a pilot data collection study in two schools to assess research tools, training materials, and research methodologies for a larger study.
Dr. Ismajli’s pilot study was conducted in two parts. The first involved an examination of risk behavior in two upper secondary schools using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey. The Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) tool was used for the second part of the study in one school to determine its effectiveness among youth in Kosovo. Dr. Ismajli plans to return to Kosovo to undertake a larger scale study to more fully assess risky behavior among Kosovo’s youth.