The NIDA separates EBT (evidence-based therapies) into the following two areas: behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapies. Pharmacotherapies are a type of drug therapy. Depending upon the addiction – tobacco, alcohol, or opioid – the treatment will vary. However, behavioral therapy is more universal. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, behavioral approaches assist in engaging individuals in drug abuse treatment, offer incentives for them to stay abstinent, change their behaviors and attitudes associated with drug abuse, and boost their life skills to deal with stressful situations and environmental cues that might lead to an intense craving for drugs, as well as prompt another pattern of compulsive abuse.
Evidence-based therapy research has been conducted, and extensive studies on a specific treatment must be proven successful. In the medical community, EBT aims to encourage effective and safe treatments that accomplish results. It’s performed to reduce the use of potentially unsafe treatments among drug/alcohol abusers.
What Makes a Drug Rehab Treatment Evidence-Based?
According to Northwest Frontier Addiction Technology Transfer Center and the University of the Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, drug rehab treatment and evidence-based research require these:
- Research: The practice was subjected to scientific research that involved quasi-experimental studies, randomized controlled trials, or in some instances a less rigorously controlled design of research. The research, for the most part, was published inside a peer-reviewed journal.
- Meaningful Results: The practice resulted in benefits to the people getting the service. It helped consumers accomplish desired results associated with drug rehab treatment objectives and goals.
- Standardization: The intervention or practice was standardized for it to be replicated. Typically, standardization includes a published description clearly defining the practice’s nature, the intended audience, and the desired effect of the practice on the people receiving it. Complete directions are available, and copies of printed materials and additional tools required to implement the practice.
- Replication: The practices and interventions were researched more than a single setting, and findings yielded a consistent outcome.
- Fidelity Measure: Fidelity measures either exist or might be developed from available data. These measures enable drug rehab practitioners to check that an intervention was implemented to be consistent with the protocol assessed in the studies.
It’s important because it’ll mean that the drug rehab treatment provided has clinical and scientific support. Traditionally, the ones who had mental health problems and addictions often were treated as less-than or weak. Nowadays, those individuals are viewed as the ones needing additional support in the areas where they struggle.
Evidence-Based Treatment is Important for Successful Treatment
According to Psychology Today, the logic of evidence-based reforms is relatively straightforward. In nearly every professional industry, a research-to-practice gap is where some practices proven to be effective by studies are rarely used in applied settings, yet some typically implemented practices aren’t empirically validated and might be ineffective or harmful. Because research—mainly when synthesized around several quality, experimental studies—generally is seen as the most valuable evidence source for determining what works, prioritizing these types of evidence-based practices over relatively ineffective approaches should result in higher learner outcomes. But, despite the promise of evidence-based change, the devil of recognizing that possibility lies in the details.