Implementation of contingency management within two New York City methadone programs.

This session of the 2008 NIDA Blending Conference featured two presentations about implementing contingency management, or motivational incentives, in two New York City methadone programs. The first, by Scott Kellogg, is titled, “Keeping It Positive: Using Contingency Management in Substance Abuse Treatment.” It provides a detailed description of contingency management, including an overview of current research supporting its efficacy (such as the MIEDAR protocols, CTN-0006 and 0007) and details on the “fishbowl” prize drawing and voucher models for positive reinforcement. It then goes on to describe a collaboration that developed at the 2002 CTN Blending Conference between CTN researchers and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), which was beginning an incentives program in their vocational training programs at the time. The second half of this presentation describes the process the HHC underwent to implement a contingency management program that focused on “rewards” instead of “reinforcement,” as well as the obstacles and resistance they encountered.

The second presentation in this session, by Susan Brandau, is entitled “Enhancing the State’s Capacity to Foster the Adoption of EBPs: The Role of the NY SSA.” This presentation features a case study on the implementation of contingency management within two New York City methadone programs, describing six key strategies, the program’s implementation design, and its key findings and “next steps.”

Related protocols: CTN-0006, CTN-0007