There is a critical need for effective methods of technology transfer, that is, conveying psychosocial treatments found to be effective in clinical trials of drug abusers to clinical practice. Manualized versions of Twelve-Step Facilitation strategies have been found to be effective for the treatment of cocaine dependence, but barriers to implementation of this approach in traditional settings exist. With a long-term commercial objective of developing a Technology Transfer and Training Institute for promoting the effective use of empirically- validated treatments for substance use disorders, the applicant plans to conduct a pilot feasibility study to evaluate the effectiveness of a training protocol for Twelve-Step Facilitation treatment on the ability of clinicians in non-research clinical settings to deliver this treatment competently and in accordance with manual guidelines, compared with clinicians who read the manual but receive no formal training. In Phase I, the applicants will develop a clinicians' training package and conduct a pilot study to evaluate the impact of the training protocol on clinicians' delivery of TSF techniques. In Phase II, they will modify and expand the training protocol and conduct a larger randomized trial to evaluate the impact of the modified training protocol on patient outcomes as well.
The
is to develop several vehicles for the technological transfer of empirically validated and manual-guided treatments for substance use disorders to community clinicians. The specific methods, which will provide the most effective transfer of training, are the focus of the commercial development.
