Therapists' adherence and competence and treatment discrimination in the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study

The National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study was designed to assess the efficacy of four different psychosocial interventions (cognitive therapy, supportive-expressive dynamic therapy, and individual and group drug counseling) for cocaine dependence. This report addresses the treatment integrity and discriminability of the three individual treatments. Therapists' adherence and competence for all three individual treatments during early and late sessions were rated reliably by three sets of independent expert judges (one set of expert clinicians for each treatment condition). Results indicated that therapists and counselors made use of the therapeutic techniques described in their respective treatment manuals rather than those from different treatment manuals. Thus, treatments were easily discriminable by the independent judges.