Evidence-based practice update — Psychosocial intervention.

This session of the 2008 NIDA Blending Conference focused on evidence-based practices that involve psychosocial interventions. Dr. Zweben’s presentation, “Implementing Evidence-Based Principles and Treatment Interventions: Challenges & Perils,” provides an overview of the benefits of using evidence-based principles and practices, implementation issues, and dissemination mechanisms such as the NIDA National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN), the Addiction Technology Transfer Centers, and NREPP, SAMHSA’s registry of effective programs and practices.

The second presentation in this session, by Maxine Stitzer, zeroes in on a few specific evidence-based practices (EBP), such as Motivational Interviewing, Contingency Management, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. The first two of these have been studied in numerous protocols of the CTN, including the MIEDAR studies led by Dr. Stitzer (CTN-0006 and -0007). The presentation concludes with a summary of why evidence-based practices should be used, which evidence-based practices should be used, and the benefits of EBP adoption.

Related protocols: CTN-0006, CTN-0007