LIFFT, Co. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIDA

Description

Advances in treating adolescent substance abuse and related problems have resulted in an increased emphasis on redirecting resources to transport evidence based treatments EBTs into real world settings yet the science practice gap remains a pressing problem Due to highly complex and multifaceted processes involved in translating EBTs to practice settings and to a host of diffusion barriers including lack of resources infrastructure and technology based and quality assurance capacity only a fraction of individuals in treatment for substance use disorder SUD receive EBTs Further the significant gains achieved in efficacy trials are difficult to replicate in actual practice without intensive monitoring of fidelity an essential component of success The lack of feasible cost efficient fidelity monitoring tools and superstructures to ensure community based practitioners sustain competent and adherent service delivery represents a major impediment for dissemination innovative methods and procedures are urgently needed The proposed Phase I SBIR will involve the development of a prototype theory guided empirically based and user friendly online feedback and monitoring system to guide and sustain the implementation of Functional Family Therapy FFT for adolescent substance abuse a well established treatment shown to reduce substance use and related problems and enhance youth and family adaptive functioning The tracking system Adherence and Clinical Effectiveness ACE will be designed to foster cliniciansandapos self regulation of treatment adherence and provide community programs with more direct access to quality assurance information pertinent to maintaining fidelity and achieving positive youth and family treatment outcomes The adoption of the system is expected to bridge the science practice gap enhancing the appeal user friendliness and marketability of FFT dissemination services delivered to adolescent outpatient drug treatment programs by LIFFT Co Phase I will focus on creating content and developing and testing the functionality and feasibility of a prototype of the web based ACE system Phase II will complete the development of a fully functional full featured commercially viable program and evaluate in a randomized controlled trial the acceptability and effectiveness of ACE for enhancing sustainability in treatment settings The specific aims are Aim Develop content for ACE based on FFT theory empirical evidence and our prior extensive FFT training supervision and dissemination experiences Aim Program an Alpha prototype of the ACE online framework that contains the basic essential elements of text graphics and interactive features The prototype will include a secure website and fillable electronic forms and other mechanisms for data collection storage and retrieval for dashboard data summary and clinical reports Aim Test the functionality and feasibility of the ACE prototype with an independent pilot sample of FFT clinicians and supervisors Functionality testing will include login procedures navigation uploading of audio files i e proxy therapy recordings and online form submission This project will develop and test a web based feedback and monitoring system to support the dissemination of Functional Family Therapy FFT an evidence based treatment shown to significantly reduce adolescent substance use and related health problems The system will be designed to foster cliniciansandapos self regulation of treatment adherence and provide community programs with more direct access to quality assurance information pertinent to maintaining fidelity and achieving positive youth and family treatment outcomes The integration of the system is expected to bridge the science practice gap enhancing the appeal user friendliness and marketability of FFT dissemination services delivered to adolescent outpatient drug treatment programs by LIFFT Co