Training counselors in empirically supported treatments (ESTs) far exceeds the ever decreasing resources of community-based treatment agencies. The purpose of this study was to examine outpatient substance abuse group counselors' (n=19) adherence and competence in communicating and utilizing concepts associated with empirically-supported relapse prevention treatment following a brief multimedia toolkit (RoadMAP Toolkit™) training. Moderate or large baseline to post-training effect sizes for counselor adherence to toolkit content were identified for 13 of 21 targeted behaviors (overall d range=.06-2.85) with the largest gains on items measuring active skill practice. Post-training adherence gains were largely maintained at the 6-month follow-up, although no statistically significant improvements were identified over time for counselor competence. This study provides important preliminary support for using a multi-media curriculum approach to increase empirically-supported relapse prevention skills among group counselors. Future research should focus on finding ways to improve counselor skill level and to determine the impact of the Toolkit on client outcomes.
Keywords: Cognitive-behavioral; Counselor training; Curriculum; Group counseling; Relapse prevention; Substance abuse.
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