Screening and brief intervention (SBI) researchers focused on illicit drug use have no regular forum in which to share ideas and disseminate their work. Recently, project directors and staff from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) Screening Brief Intervention Referral and Treatment (SBIRT) programs have met annually, but the focus has not been research. Some NIDA-supported SBI investigators meet by conference call and at existing meetings (i.e. College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD)), and NIDA plans to bring together these researchers (supported by the joint SAMHSA/NIDA RFA-DA-08-021) for a meeting in September of 2010. Some drug SBI investigators, for lack of another forum, bring their work to the International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol Problems (INEBRIA), the only professional group focused on alcohol SBI research, a group that has held meetings regularly but only outside the US. Increasing activity and literature in the area of alcohol and other drug SBI suggest the time is right for a professional conference focused on drug SBI research in the US. INEBRIA will meet in Boston September 22-23, 2011, with possible National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) R-13 support. That meeting presents a unique opportunity: to have a full-day drug SBI meeting the day before, taking advantage of the fact that SBI researchers from the US and around the world will be in town. SBI research is well-developed in the US and the focus is turning to other drugs and to implementation research. This proposed meeting presents an opportunity to bring these researchers together with researchers attending the INEBRIA meeting. This application proposes the first conference in the US to include a focus on drug SBI research: an SBI Implementation research conference. The goal of this SBI Implementation research conference is to review the state-of-the-science regarding drug SBI implementation with an eye towards both solutions and the generation of new research questions.
The specific aims of the conference will be: 1) To identify and discuss what is known and not known about implementation (including dissemination and sustainability) of alcohol and other drug SBI;2) To share research methods applicable to translational implementation research on SBI;3) To generate new SBI implementation research ideas and collaborations among junior researchers and among those in the US and worldwide. To achieve these aims, this SBI Implementation research conference will convene a diverse group of researchers and clinicians in an epicenter of SBI research, Boston, Massachusetts, for a 1-day meeting. Achieving these aims will provide a forum for engaging researchers in drug SBI research, an area that has been relatively neglected by researchers (compared with alcohol SBI). In addition it will result in sharing numerous cutting edge drug SBI research ideas and dissemination of these ideas worldwide, providing a unique opportunity to advance the field.
Illicit drugs and alcohol are leading causes of preventable morbidity and death and screening and brief intervention (SBI) has some efficacy to address them. But SBI has not been widely disseminated and implementation research is needed. Because there is no forum for gathering expertise to generate high quality studies and for attracting young investigators to the field, we proposed an SBI Implementation research conference to provide a forum for leading researchers and practitioners to come together and share the latest research results and stimulate new research ideas to improve SBI approaches for people with unhealthy alcohol and other drug use.
