Family Training Program: for those worried about a loved one using drugs or drinking too much. Click here

Dr. Kirby is a psychologist with specialization in behavior analysis and behavioral pharmacology. She received her doctorate from the University of Kansas and completed

Association for Behavior Analysis. Dr. Kirby’s research focuses on behavioral treatments that improve motivation for recovery and involve family members and religious communities in addiction treatment. She has more than 70 publications in professional books, meeting proceedings, and journals.

Section Mission: To take behavioral interventions that have evidence of effectiveness in research settings and use rigorous scientific methods to develop, adapt and improve them so they are effective and acceptable to clients, their families, and the community.

Research and Evaluation: In research settings, behavioral interventions including contingency management and community reinforcement have shown evidence of effectiveness in increasing treatment entry and retention, and positive outcomes on drug abstinence and progress toward treatment goals. Despite these impressive research findings, behavioral interventions have not enjoyed widespread use in clinical settings. Dr. Kirby and her colleagues are assessing barriers to implementation of empirically demonstrated behavioral interventions in outpatient treatment settings and developing new methods for delivering contingency management and community reinforcement in ways that are more acceptable to treatment providers and other members of the community. View Selected Projects

Practice Improvement: Surveys of state government regulations reveal credentialing and counselor training requirements that may affect provider readiness for behavioral interventions and other evidence based practices. In addition, Dr. Kirby and her colleagues are conducting research examining the effects of different lengths of treatment and factors influencing the long-term maintenance of drug abuse. View Selected Projects

Instrument Development: Surveys and other instruments developed by Dr. Kirby and colleagues are now available for use by researchers and practitioners, including surveys measuring provider attitudes toward behavioral interventions and measurements of problems that family members and significant others experience when they are in a close relationship with a drug or alcohol abuser. View Selected Products