Ideology, Attitude and Science: Buyer Beware!

In this new publication, the authors found that both counselor and program characteristics influence counselor attitudes towards use of medications in treating addiction. People who are looking for treatment need to ask about these attitudes prior to agreeing to enter a program or therapeutic relationship. It is a sign of how far the US treatment industry must go when "attitude" determines the treatment you get, rather than evidence based guidelines. And be skeptical when a program or staff member says they use "evidence based practices." Too often, that consists primarily of some training to update counseling skills, but it doesn't involve moving beyond an ideological approach to a scientific one. Consequently, too many treatment staff still see science as useful only insofar as it can validate already held assumptions. We all know, however, that's not how science works. It's designed to upset and surprise because it uses methods to minimize bias. And we're all biased, one way or another. Bottom line: people and families looking for treatment need to educate themselves about the scientific knowledge base of what addiction is and the most current methods available to treat it and then be prepared to ask the program or counselor about specific practices and then to look elsewhere if a program doesn't offer what they are looking for. Consumers can be a significant force in moving the industry forward.
MW


Addictive Behaviors
Volume 36, Issue 6, June 2011, Pages 576-583
Special Issue: Addiction Treatment: Evidence-Based Policy and Practice

Counselor attitudes toward the use of naltrexone in substance abuse treatment: A multi-level modeling approach.

Abraham AJ, Rieckmann T, McNulty T, Kovas AE, Roman PM.

Institute for Behavioral Research, Center for Research on Behavioral Health and Human Services Delivery, University of Georgia, 112 Barrow Hall, Athens, GA 30602, USA; Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.

Abstract

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) continue to be one of the most pervasive and costly of the substance use disorders (SUDs). Despite evidence of clinical effectiveness, adoption of medications for the treatment of AUDs is suboptimal. Low rates of AUD medication adoption have been explained by characteristics of both treatment organizations and individual counselor's attitudes and behaviors. However, few studies have simultaneously examined the impact of organizational-level and counselor-level characteristics on counselor perceptions of EBPs. To address this gap in the literature, we use data from a national sample of 1178 counselors employed in 209 privately funded treatment organizations to examine the effects of organizational and individual counselor characteristics on counselor attitudes toward tablet and injectable naltrexone. Results of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) show that organizational characteristics (use of tablet/injectable naltrexone in the program, 12-step orientation) were associated with counselor perceptions of naltrexone. Net of organizational characteristics, several counselor level characteristics were associated with attitudes toward tablet and injectable naltrexone including gender, tenure in the field, recovery status, percentage of AUD patients, and receipt of medication-specific training. These findings reveal that counselor receptiveness toward naltrexone is shaped in part by the organizational context in which counselors are embedded.