SECTION ON BEHAVIORAL TREATMENTS AND APPLICATIONS
Director: Kimberly Kirby, Ph.D.
The mission of this Section is to develop, adapt and refine behavioral applications that have evidence of efficacy in research settings and increase their availability, accessibility and quality of delivery to clients, their families, and the community through innovative, empirically derived training and technology-based interventions.
In research settings, behavioral treatments have shown evidence of efficacy in increasing treatment entry and retention as well as positive outcomes on drug abstinence and other treatment goals. Despite these impressive research findings, behavioral treatments have not enjoyed widespread use in clinical settings.
Dr. Kirby leads the team in assessing contingency management and community reinforcement strategies, developing and evaluating implementation approaches that are more acceptable to treatment providers, clients, family members and other members of the community. Another Section investigator, Adam Brooks, Ph.D., has expertise in cognitive behavioral and motivational interviewing approaches and leads development of technology-based interventions that are delivered directly to clients. Dr. Brooks also specializes in strategies helping minimally trained clinicians use empirically-supported techniques.
The Section is also the source of several evidence-inspired products that will make up the "Toolkits" series. One Toolkit has already been introduced to the field: RoadMAP featuring a multimedia curriculum for counselors to deliver evidence-based relapse prevention techniques without the typical training practices which have not translated well into clinical practice. A Toolkit focusing on 12-Step Facilitation is completed and is currently being assessed.
Surveys and other instruments developed by members of the Behavioral Treatments and Applications Section are now available to 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.
