Developing a rural therapy with big city approaches

Area of Science:

• Behavioral therapy
• Rural health
• Substance use disorders

Background:

• Drug use and dependence affect both urban and rural populations.
• Current treatment interventions often lack rural-specific adaptations.
• Rural communities face unique barriers to accessing substance use disorder treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To modify an existing social skills behavioral therapy for rural populations.
• To develop a manualized, structured outpatient therapy for rural drug users.
• To pilot test the adapted therapy as Stage I research for NIDA's program.

Main Methods:

• Adapting an established social skills behavioral therapy.
• Refining the therapy through expert consultation and literature review.
• Developing a comprehensive treatment manual for therapists.
• Training and supervising therapists in the adapted intervention.
• Pilot testing the structured behavioral outpatient rural therapy.

Main Results:

• The project outlines the systematic development of a rural-tailored behavioral therapy.
• A manualized intervention and therapist training protocol were created.
• The pilot testing phase is designed to assess feasibility and initial outcomes.

Conclusions:

• There is a need for evidence-based substance use disorder treatments adapted for rural settings.
• This project aims to provide a feasible and effective outpatient therapy for rural drug users.
• Successful pilot testing could lead to broader implementation of this tailored intervention.