Counselor assessments of training and adoption barriers

The prevailing emphasis on adopting evidence-based practices suggests that more focused training evaluations that capture factors in clinician decisions to use new techniques are needed. This includes relationships between postconference evaluations and subsequent adoption of training materials. We therefore collected training assessments at two time points from substance abuse treatment counselors who attended a training on dual diagnosis and another on therapeutic alliance as part of a state-sponsored conference. Customized evaluations were collected to assess counselor perceptions of training quality, relevance, and resources in relation to its use during the 6 months after the conference. Higher ratings for relevance of training concepts and materials to service the needs of clients, desire to have additional training, and level of program support were related to greater trial use during the follow-up period. Primary resource-related and procedural barriers cited by the counselors included lack of time and redundancy with existing practices.