Developing a rural therapy with big city approaches

Both rural communities and urban communities experience problems associated with drug use and drug dependence. However, existing treatment interventions are not tailored for rural settings. This article describes a project which will modify an existing social skills behavioral therapy for rural populations, refine the therapy, develop a manual, train and supervise therapists, and pilot test the structured behavioral outpatient rural therapy to treat rural drug users and drug dependents as Stage I Research for NIDA's Behavioral Therapies Development Program.