Tanja C. Rothrauff

The adoption of alcohol pharmacotherapies in the Clinical Trials Network: The influence of research network participation

Organizational participation in clinical research may lead to adoption of the intervention by treatment agencies, but it is not known whether research involvement enhances innovativeness beyond the specific interventions that are tested. The National Institute on Drug Abuses Clinical Trials Network (CTN) is a platform for considering this research question. To date, the CTN has not conducted research on medications for alcohol use disorders (AUDs), so greater adoption of innovative AUD pharmacotherapies by CTN-affiliated programs would suggest an added value of research network participation. Using longitudinal data from a pooled sample of CTN and non-CTN publicly funded treatment programs, we investigate adoption of tablet naltrexone and acamprosate over a 2-year period. CTN-affiliated programs were more likely to have adopted tablet naltrexone and acamprosate at 24-month follow-up, net of the effects of a range of organizational characteristics. Research network participation may thus enhance organizational innovativeness to include interventions beyond the scope of the network.

Predicting Postdivorce Coparental Communication

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes and beliefs that predicted frequency of coparental communication and intentions to coparent for 203 divorced mothers and 124 fathers. Mothers and fathers who held positive perceptions of coparenting communicated more often with their former partner than did other parents. Mothers who perceived social encouragement to coparent and who perceived greater control over their abilities to coparent communicated more often with former spouses than did other mothers. Mothers also had greater intentions to coparent in the future when they held positive perceptions of coparenting and perceived that social norms encouraged them to coparent.

Substance Abuse Treatment for Older Adults in Private Centers

By 2020, an estimated 4.4 million older adults will require substance abuse treatment compared to 1.7 million in 2000-01. This study examined the availability of special services for older adults, adoption of recommended treatment approaches, and organizational characteristics of centers that offer special services. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews with administrators and/or clinical directors from a nationally representative sample of 346 private treatment centers participating in the 2006-07 National Treatment Center Study. Results indicated that only 18% provided special services for older adults; age-specific recommendations were generally adopted; more older adult-specialty centers offered prescription drug addiction treatment, primary medical care, and housing assistance. The proportion of patients with Medicare payment predicted availability of special services. As more older adults will seek help with a myriad of substance use disorders (SUDs) over the next decade, treatment centers need to get ready for a plethora of challenges as well as unique opportunities for growth.