Section on Behavioral Treatments and Applications
(Formerly the Sections on Behavioral Interventions and Treatment Systems Research)
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, and 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 or assist clinicians to use empirically-supported techniques with minimal training.
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.
