Clinicians' information sources for new substance abuse treatment

Little is known about clinicians' information sources for new treatments or ways to improve dissemination of that information. We analyzed 163 clinicians' responses to a checklist of where and how frequently they obtain information on new treatment approaches. They reported at least yearly use of a median of four cosmopolite categories (e.g., journals or books, Internet) and a median of three local categories (e.g., co-workers, personal experience) with interpersonal contact with co-workers (89%) and seminars/conferences (86%) being the most frequently endorsed responses for at least yearly use. In response to the hypothetical scenario of receiving monthly e-mail summaries of journal articles, 59% of the clinicians rated the strategy as "very helpful". If continuing education credits were offered, more clinicians (from 50-80%) would read the relevant articles. Information dissemination may improve with expanded Internet access at programs and short e-mailed summaries carrying links to full articles coupled with the incentive of earning continuing education credits.