The place of adoption in the NIDA Clinical Trials Network.

NIDA’s National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) was established in 1999 to determine effectiveness of drug abuse treatment interventions. The CTN also has as its mission the dissemination and transfer of research findings to the treatment provider community. This poster reports on the second phase of the authors’ “multi-levels of assessment” (MAP) study, a project aiming to examine post-trial adoption of evidence-based practices. Phase one examined issues related to adoption near and after completion of CSAP’s Methamphetamine Treatment Project (MTP). Phase two, reported on by this poster, focuses on similar issues regarding adoption near and after completion of the CTN’s MET trial (CTN-0004, “MET to Improve Treatment Engagement and Outcome in Subjects Seeking Treatment for Substance Abuse”).

The authors interviewed 29 participants from different CTN organizational levels about post-trial adoption of tested interventions. There was a range of opinion among respondents on the place of adoption within the CTN. Respondents’ reflections are summarized using several themes: How adoption fits with the CTN mission, general adoption practices among drug treatment staff, barriers to adoption, and respondents’ views on the future of the CTN in relation to adoption. The poster contains direct quotes (anonymous) from researchers and clinicians interviewed, and ends with the conclusion that, given the potential for improved health and social outcomes for a large number of enrolled treatment clients, the CTN itself is a logical place to also support adoption of effective interventions which could affect patients as well as providers.

Related protocols: CTN-0004