Community providers’ impression of HIV prevention intervention research in NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network.

Research-based approaches to HIV risk reduction are available but not readily adopted by community-based treatment programs. This exploratory survey study assessed staff (N=116) attitudes as a function of direct research participation, treatment program type, and study performance within 7 methadone maintenance and 8 psychosocial outpatient substance abuse treatment programs that participated in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network HIV risk-reduction trials (CTN-0018 and CTN-0019). Clinical staff who directly participated in the research reported intervention components as useful and were more likely to report perceived increases in HIV testing/referrals compared to staff who did not directly participate. However, those directly involved reported less positive attitudes about clinical impact and research impression. Results suggest a positive influence of research participation on awareness of program services, but also the need to address practical and professional issues related to research collaboration.

Conclusions: Effectiveness trials, such as those conducted within the CTN, offer a valuable opportunity to assess provider-level factors associated with adoption and implementation. This study supports continued research on effective methodology for collaboration between investigators and providers to influence post-study implementation.

Related protocols: CTN-0018, CTN-0019