Parental perceptions of contingency management for adolescent substance use: Acceptability, willingness to pay, and...

Despite robust evidence, there is a low uptake of incentive-based contingency management (CM) for substance use treatment due to provider worries about client perceptions of CM and high implementation costs. Research has attempted to address these concerns to facilitate the dissemination of CM for adult substance use. However, little research has explored these barriers to disseminating CM for adolescents. The present study assessed the degree to which parents (those most likely to be payors of adolescent treatment) held positive and negative views of incentives for substance use treatment, preferred fixed- versus variable-ratio schedules of reinforcement and immediate versus delayed receipt of reinforcers, and were willing to pay for incentive-based treatment. One hundred twenty-three parents of adolescents currently using substances (N = 123) were recruited via Facebook to participate in a survey study. While results show parents endorsed some objections, parents overwhelmingly endorsed positive views about incentives for adolescent substance use treatment and indicated a willingness to pay out-of-pocket costs. Also, parents endorsed incentives with fixed amounts over variable amounts. Finally, parent age was significantly associated with the likelihood of accepting incentives, and perception of incentives was significantly associated with the likelihood of agreeing to engage and willingness to pay for incentive-based treatment. This study showed parents largely accept the idea of incentives for substance use treatment and support exploring a self-pay model to increase the dissemination of CM. Research is needed to examine perceptions of incentives for substance use treatment among adolescents themselves and explore novel ways of integrating voucher- and prize-based procedures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).