Turnover and the substance abuse treatment workforce: Results from Project MERITS.

The nationwide CTN platform project, “Managing Effective Relationships in Treatment Services” (MERITS), has been following a cohort of substance use disorder counselors from a variety of CTN community treatment programs over several years. MERITS I, the first round of the study, was developed to (a) examine predictors of voluntary turnover among counselors and clinical supervisors and (b) determine the relationship between clinical supervision (CS), counselor strain, and turnover. MERITS I found a cumulative turnover of 47% over 3 years, most of which was voluntary. Longitudinal predictors of turnover included procedural and distributive justice, job satisfaction, and perceived organizational support. MERITS II is focusing on implementation of OASAS tobacco-free regulation in New York State, looking at the description of implementation over time, effect of local change management practices on clinician outcomes, and the effect of implementation extensiveness on clinician reactions to the regulation and subsequent strain. MERITS III will be looking at the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of smoking cessation services, including organizational and policy factors related to evidence-based treatments for smoking.

This presentation ends with a brief introduction to a new CTN platform study at the University of Georgia (Katie Kinkade and Lillian Eby) examining “Effects of Client Trauma on Substance Abuse Counselors and Their Families.” This research will examine how counselors’ experiences with client trauma affects them and their families, as well as outcomes of counselor “secondary traumatic syndrome” (STS) caused by exposure to clients’ vivid accounts of trauma experiences.