A novel CBT Web course for the substance abuse workforce: community counselors' perceptions

This article describes (a) a Web-based course for substance abuse counselors on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and (b) the evaluation of a prototype module from the Web-based course to determine the feasibility of the e-learning program for a community-based counselor audience. The course is part of a unique study that trains counselor-supervisor teams to increase the transfer of learned skills to the agency. Following curriculum design, the authors sought counselor reactions to the prototype module on strengths/limitations of the design, functionality, and effectiveness. Results showed that counselors learned new information, found this format effective compared to other training, and wanted to complete a full CBT Web course. Counselors' evaluation led to content and technology changes: the authors added and segmented material aimed at the advanced, more theoretically oriented counselor, and housed these topics behind an "advanced concept" graphics button; added seven screens to accommodate text broken into smaller units; and increased the difficulty of the end-of-module quiz.