CTN-0008: Assessment of the National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network: A Baseline for Investigating Diffusion of Innovation

Dennis McCarty, PhD
Lead Investigator
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University
mccartyd@ohsu.edu

The “Baseline Study” is designed to help us better understand the community treatment programs participating in the NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN). Using a series of surveys, the study will be used to:

Describe the programs and practitioners delivering drug abuse treatment services within the CTN.
Build a system that can track changes in program and staff characteristics.
Allow treatment program managers to compare their program to others — both within the CTN and nationwide.
Promote studies of organizational change and the characteristics that predict whether research-based treatment strategies will become part of usual treatment in a program.

Primary Findings

The surveys describe 106 corporations (95% response rate) providing drug abuse treatment in 348 treatment units (91% response rate). Most treatment units are not-for-profit and are not affiliated with health care or mental health care organizations and tend to be larger than the modal drug abuse treatment program. In the CTN, hospital-based services are over-represented and programs based in mental health centers are under-represented. The treatment units serve a heterogeneous patient population, and the inpatient, residential, methadone, and outpatient levels of care vary in the services provided.

Primary Outcomes Article: McCarty D, et al. Treatment programs in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 2008;92:200-207. [get article]