DIAGNOSIS: Substance and Alcohol Use Disorders
2015 EST Status: StrongResearch Support (SEE REPORT)Very strong: High-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms and functional outcomes at post-treatment and follow-up; little risk of harm; requires reasonable amount of resources; effective in non-research settings
Strong: Moderate- to high-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms OR functional outcomes; not a high risk of harm; reasonable use of resources
Weak: Low or very low-quality evidence that treatment produces clinically meaningful effects on symptoms or functional outcomes; Gains from the treatment may not warrant resources involved
Insufficient Evidence: No meta-analytic study could be identified
Insufficient Evidence: Existing meta-analyses are not of sufficient quality
Treatment pending re-evaluation
1998 EST Status: N/A Research Support
Strong: Support from two well-designed studies conducted by independent investigators.
Modest: Support from one well-designed study or several adequately designed studies.
Controversial: Conflicting results, or claims regarding mechanisms are unsupported.
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Brief Summary
Treatment Resources
Editors:Rory Pfund, PhD; Meredith Ginley, PhD; Cassandra Boness, PhD; Kristyn Zajac, PhD; Carla Rash, PhD; Katie Witkiewitz, PhD
Note: The resources provided below are intended to supplement not replace foundational training in mental health treatment and evidence-based practice
Treatment Manuals / Outlines
Treatment Manuals
Books Available for Purchase Through External Sites
- Contingency management: Using motivational incentives to improve drug abuse treatment
- Contingency management for substance abuse treatment: A guide to implementing this evidence-based practice (Petry, 2012)
Training Materials and Workshops
Measures, Handouts and Worksheets
- Rating contingency management sessions that reinforce abstinence using the Contingency Management Competence Scale (Ledgerwood & Petry, 2010)
- The Contingency Management Competence Scale for Reinforcing Attendance (Petry & Ledgerwood, 2010)
- Adapting the helpful responses questionnaire to assess communication skills involved in delivering contingency management: Preliminary psychometrics (Hartzler, 2015)
Video Descriptions
Clinical Trials
- A behavioral approach to achieving initial cocaine abstinence (Higgins et al., 1991)
- Achieving cocaine abstinence with a behavioral approach (Higgins et al., 1993)
- Incentives improve outcome in outpatient behavioral treatment for cocaine dependence (Higgins et al., 1994)
- Sustained cocaine abstinence in methadone maintenance patients through voucher-based reinforcement therapy (Silverman et al., 1996)
- Prize reinforcement contingency management for treatment of cocaine abusers: How low can we go, and with whom? (Petry et al., 2004)
- Vouchers versus prizes: Contingency management treatment of substance abusers in community settings (Petry et al., 2005)
- Effect of prize-based incentives on outcomes in stimulant abusers in outpatient psychosocial treatment programs: A National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network Study (Petry et al., 2005)
- Effects of lower-cost incentives on stimulant abstinence in methadone maintenance treatment: A National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network study (Peirce et al., 2006)
- Clinical trial of abstinence-based vouchers and cognitive-behavioral therapy for cannabis dependence (Budney et al., 2006)
- Contingency management for the treatment of methamphetamine use disorders (Roll et al., 2006)
Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- Contingency management in outpatient methadone treatment: A meta-analysis (Griffith et al., 2000)
- A meta-analysis of voucher-based reinforcement therapy for substance use disorders (Lussier et al., 2006)
- Contingency management for treatment of substance use disorders: A meta-analysis (Prendergast et al., 2006)
- A meta-analytic review of psychosocial interventions for substance use disorders (Dutra et al., 2008)
- Prize-based contingency management for the treatment of substance abusers: A meta-analysis (Benishek et al., 2014)
- Contingency management for patients receiving medication for opioid use disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Bolívar et al., 2021)
- Long-term efficacy of contingency management treatment based on objective indicators of abstinence from illicit substance use up to 1 year following treatment: A meta-analysis (Ginley et al., 2021)
- Contingency management for treatment attendance: A meta-analysis (Pfund et al., 2022)