In Support of a National Treatment Evaluation Study

Abstract

Argument is made for the importance of conducting a national treatment evaluation to permit understanding of the nature and effectiveness of typical treatment programming. Only through such study can we hope to learn areas of success and failure of normative programming relative to population characteristics and treatment strategies, and the extent to which research-based initiatives have been adopted by the field. That information is central to efforts to draw up a research agenda appropriate to the needs of clients and the staffs responsible for their treatment, and to clarify and respond to gaps in the application of potentially useful treatment components. In spite of such need, our understanding of typical treatment programming and of its effectiveness is based on data collected from a treatment cohort of 20 years ago, although patterns of drug use, characteristics of clients, and the treatment components available have all undergone substantial change. The responsibility taken to provide such information to the field, once seen as a central task of research, needs to be reasserted to strengthen and support our treatment efforts.

Keywords:

• treatment evaluation
• drug user treatment
• Affordable Care Act (ACA)

GLOSSARY

• Typical treatment: Those services customarily offered by community-based programs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barry S. Brown

Barry S. Brown, PhD, US, holds a faculty appointment with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and from there has directed research projects on early retention, and treatment aftercare services and AIDS prevention in Baltimore. In 1993, he was a Visiting Senior Scientist with the Institute of Behavioral Research after serving 17 years with the National Institute on Drug Abuse where he headed a variety of research units. He continues to work with the IBR as an advisor and research collaborator on several NIDA-funded studies; he chaired the Steering Committees for the DATOS Project and the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) in which IBR served as a collaborating research site. Dr. Brown has served on a number of editorial and advisory boards, and published more than 150 articles and chapters in the professional literature. He is also the author of the Mrs. Hudson of Baker Street mystery book series.

Patrick M. Flynn

Patrick M. Flynn, PhD, US, is the Director of the Institute of Behavioral Research and a tenured Professor, and he also holds the Saul B. Sells Chair of Psychology at Texas Christian University. Dr. Flynn's research has focused on the effectiveness and benefits of treatment, and included clinical assessment, questionnaire development, multisite clinical trials, dissemination, and implementation in community-based programs in the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy, studies of organizational functioning and costs in outpatient treatments, and treatment services and outcomes research in community and correctional settings. He is a Fellow in the American Educational Research Association and in several divisions of the American Psychological Association, a frequent member and chair of federal grant review panels, serves on journal editorial boards, and a regular reviewer for professional journals. Since 1990, when he returned to the research environs, he has been the Principal Investigator/Project Director and Co-Director of national studies of substance abuse treatment.