Measuring substance abuse treatment provider training needs: Developing an index of training need: Harvard Medical School, Division on Addictions Addiction Training Center of New England, Brown University

This article describes the development of the Index of Training Need (ITN), a new system for measuring levels of treatment training need. By incorporating self- reported measures of the adequacy of respondents' previous treatment training and respondents' interest in future training in core domains, the ITN system yields a practical guide for the allocation of training resources. In addition, by quantifying levels of training need, the ITN system permits comparisons of training need on a variety of levels. By using the ITN system, educators can identify the needs of substance abuse clinicians efficiently and apply resources cost-effectively. Although this study represents a new approach for assessing training need in the substance abuse treatment field, the ITN approach is not limited to this application. Researchers, policy makers, and educators in other areas can apply the ITN methodology to needs assessment studies in their areas, substituting the appropriate core domains for those used in this study.