NIDA INVEST/CTN Drug Abuse Research Fellow Rushit Ismajli, M.D., M.Sci. recently completed his fellowship at the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute, where he examined risk behavior among adolescents in his home city, 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 CDC's 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. Now home in Kosovo, Dr. Ismajli plans to undertake a larger scale study to more fully assess risky behavior among Kosovo’s youth.
It was a great pleasure to have Rushit at ADAI during his fellowship year, and we wish him well in his studies at home. More about the NIDA INVEST Fellowship program here.
