Reason to Expand the Contingency Management Workforce: Coaching-to-Criterion Results for Addiction Professionals and...

Area of Science:

• Implementation Science
• Addiction Treatment
• Workforce Development

Background:

• Contingency management (CM) is an evidence-based practice for substance use disorder treatment.
• Effective implementation support is crucial for widespread CM adoption.
• Coaching-to-criterion is a strategy to ensure workforce fidelity in delivering CM.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of coaching-to-criterion for addiction professionals and peer specialists.
• To assess workforce capability and fidelity in delivering CM programming.
• To examine the comparability of coaching resource allocation and skill development between professional groups.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a coaching-to-criterion methodology across two implementation endeavors involving 115 workforce members.
• Assessed CM competence through observed standardized patient encounters rated on a 6-domain scale.
• Conducted non-inferiority analysis to compare scale scores between addiction professionals (n=51) and peer specialists (n=64).

Main Results:

• All participants (N=115) met the criterion, with mean scores significantly exceeding benchmarks.
• No significant difference in CM competence was found between addiction professionals and peer specialists (Cohen's d=0.13).
• Coaching efforts and skill acquisition were comparable across both professional groups, with a majority achieving criterion on the first attempt.

Conclusions:

• Coaching-to-criterion is a viable strategy for preparing diverse workforces, including peer specialists, for CM delivery.
• This approach ensures comparable CM skill levels and efficient coaching resource utilization across different professional roles.
• The findings support the scalability of CM implementation with varied healthcare professionals.