A pilot study of community-friendly manual-guided drug counseling

Abstract

To facilitate effectiveness testing and dissemination of treatments to community based setting, therapist training manuals that are more "community friendly" are needed. The aim of the current project was to create revised versions of individual drug counseling (IDC) and group drug counseling (GDC) treatment manuals for cocaine dependence and to conduct a preliminary study of their effectiveness. After changing the format and context of existing drug counseling manuals to have greater ease of use in the community, draft manuals were given to 23 community-based counselors for their feedback. Final versions were then used in a pilot randomized clinical trial involving 41 cocaine dependent patients who received 3 months of either IDC + GDC or GDC alone treatment. Counselors implemented the new treatment manuals with acceptable levels of adherence and competence. Outcome results indicated that substantial change in drug use was evident, but the amount of abstinence obtained was limited.

What clinicians think of manualized psychotherapy interventions: findings from a systematic review

“…Increasing the use of manuals in training programmes will help to increase familiarity (Arnow, ). Further, since programme and workforce characteristics also influence the implementation of treatment manuals (Crits‐Christoph et al., ; Herbeck et al., ), ensuring that trainees have a grounding in the use of manuals that can help shape the future generation of therapists, and how manuals can be integrated into services. Importantly, many clinicians have low levels of understanding and experience of manuals, meaning that specialties that have adopted manuals (such as CBT) report more positive views.…”

“…There are clear and consistent moves toward defining and providing evidence‐based psychotherapies in mental health care internationally, for example, in the USA (Chambless and Ollendick, ), Australia (Australian Psychological Society, ), Canada (Greenberg and Jesuitus, ) and England (Department of Health, ). Consequently, the reference to, and use of, treatment manuals has grown substantially in recent years in psychotherapy research and practice (Crits‐Christoph et al., ; Fluckiger et al ., ; Lusk and Melnyk, ; Nelson et al., ; Weck et al., ).…”

Social Workers and Delivery of Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Substance Use Disorders

“…In the most recent study of these treatments (Crits-Christoph, Connolly Gibbons, Ring-Kurtz & Present, 2009), IDC was delivered twice a week for one month and once a week for two months; GDC consisted of 12 weekly sessions. Both drug counseling treatments treat addiction as a disease and encourage mutual support group participation.…”

Couple therapy following prostate cancer surgery: a manual to guide treatment

“…A manualized approach was sought in order to provide evidence which is considered robust by research funders and health service commissioners. Manuals are increasingly being used in clinical practice across therapeutic modalities, and are thereby contributing to the evidence base for therapeutic interventions (Crits‐Christoph et al ., ; Fluckiger et al ., ; Lusk and Melnyk, ; Weck et al ., ). A recent paper indicates that therapists who use manuals are more positive about them than practitioners without such exposure (Forbat et al ., ), which provides some assurance that while trials may struggle to claim untainted objectivity, manuals themselves may be an acceptable format of sharing approaches to treatment.…”