Brief article Staff beliefs about drug abuse clinical trials $ Robert F. Forman, Ph.D. a,b, *, Gregory Bovasso, Ph.D. a , George Woody, M.D. a , Laura McNicholas, M.D., Ph.D. a , Cynthia Clark, C.R.N.P. a , Charlotte Royer-Malvestuto, M.Ed. a , Stephen Weinstein, Ph.D. c a Treatment Research Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA b Treatment Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, 600 Public Ledger Building, 150 S. Independence Mall-West, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3475, USA c Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA Received 10 November 2001; received in revised form 25 February 2002; accepted 13 March 2002 Abstract Staff from 10 community-based addiction treatment organizations in the National Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network participated in an educational session about addiction research practices and human subject protections. This 1.5-hour presentation addressed ‘‘informed consent,’’ ‘‘confidentiality of research information,’’ ‘‘inclusion and exclusion criteria,’’ ‘‘random assignment,’’ ‘‘patient protections,’’ and ‘‘patient payments.’’ Pre- and postsession surveys were administered to 115 staff members measuring their beliefs about clinical trials. At baseline, 52% of staff believed patients could transfer out of a study even if they were doing poorly, and 55% believed staff had this right; 44% agreed that patients could participate in a clinical trial without understanding what would take place in the study. After the educational session, staff beliefs about patient protections were significantly increased in five of the seven items. A fourth of staff continued to believe patient payments were harmful, and 37% did not believe participation in a clinical trial would increase a patient’s chances at recovery. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Staff beliefs; Addiction; Human subjects protection; Ethics; Clinical Trials Network 1. Introduction In response to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report ‘‘Bridging the Gap Between Practice and Research’’ (Lamb, Greenlick, & McCarty, 1998), both the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) launched initiatives designed to create collaborative partnerships between university-based researchers and community-based treatment providers. In 1999, NIDA began the Clinical Trials Network (CTN) by creating five research/practice partnerships, or ‘‘nodes’’; there are now 14 CTN nodes distributed across the US. The purpose of the CTN is to conduct ‘‘rigorous multisite clinical trials to determine effectiveness across a broad range of community- based treatment settings and diversified patient populations; and to transfer the research results to physicians, providers, and their patients to improve the quality of drug abuse treatment throughout the country’’ (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2001). Similarly, in 1999, CSAT funded 11 Practice Research Collaboratives with the purpose of ‘‘increasing the usefulness of substance abuse treatment research to commun- ity-based treatment organizations,’’ and increasing the ‘‘cap- ability of community-based treatment organizations to adopt evidence-based clinical and service delivery practices’’ (Cen- ter for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2001). In both of these 0740-5472/02/$ – see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII:S0740-5472(02)00238-6 $ Editor’s Note: We assure readers all articles published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment have been reviewed by experienced, impartial reviewers. To obtain the most candid and constructive critiques, we assure reviewers their identities will not be revealed to authors. In the case of this article — one involving the Editor-in-Chief of JSAT and close colleagues — James L. Sorensen, Ph.D., Editorial Board Member, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, handled the review process and has kept reviewers anonymous. Anonymous review will continue to be the policy of JSAT , and all such articles involving the Editor-in-Chief of JSAT — or close colleagues of the Editor-in-Chief — will be subject to this policy and procedure. We acknowledge and thank Dr. Sorensen’s efforts to improve the integrity and quality of review for the journal. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-215-399-0980, ext. 145; fax: +1-215- 399-0987. E-mail address: bforman@tresearch.org (R.F. Forman). Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 23 (2002) 55 – 60