Characteristics, beliefs, and practices of community clinicians trained to provide manual-guided therapy for substance abusers

The successful dissemination of empirically supported addiction therapies to community providers requires an appreciation of the characteristics of those practitioners who might be willing participants in this process of technology transfer. Clinicians (N = 66) from 11 community treatment programs associated with six research-clinic partnerships of the National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network volunteered to be trained in Motivational Interviewing or Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET/MI) and were assessed prior to training. The sample of clinicians was heterogeneous in education and credentials, had a high level of counseling experience, reported using a wide range of counseling techniques and orientations, but had limited prior exposure to MET/MI or to the use of treatment manuals of empirically supported therapies. In general, many of the clinicians reported beliefs and techniques that were consistent with their stated theoretical orientation and recovery status. Relatively few participants reported relying on one dominant orientation or set of techniques.