RRTC on Substance Abuse, Disability and Employment
PI: Dennis Moore, EdD

Dennis Moore, EdD, of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Substance Abuse, Disability and Employment at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, had already developed, validated and implemented a substance abuse screener specifically for persons with disabilities who are seeking employment through vocational rehabilitation. His RUA funding "scaled-up" use of this screening tool, known as the Substance Abuse in Vocational Rehabilitation - Screener "SAVR-S", from its roll-out in Illinois, Ohio and West Virginia statewide VR systems to include those of Kentucky, Utah and Virginia. The project evaluated its "train-the-trainer" approach as well as the increased use of video in the training materials.

In their Final Report, Dr. Moore and his colleagues observed that:

The RUA funding provided an excellent and rare opportunity to quickly validate and field test findings and suppositions about adoption of a substance abuse screener by state VR programs using a method of implementation that would more closely mimic post-research dissemination of this intervention. Based on the admittedly limited experiences with three state VR programs, the following conclusions are provided.

1. The RUA funding provided cost- and time-effective methods to test dissemination/utilization of promising interventions in rehabilitation. The RUA specifically tested implementation and dissemination of the intervention, whereas the original NIDRR RRTC project involved "delayed start controls" that did not fully represent the challenges associated with full adoption of this intervention in state VR programs.
2. Data collected to date indicate that full, statewide implementation of a substance abuse screener is more effective in delivering desired training results and fuller utilization of the intervention.
3. Even with the improved efficacy of this statewide 'all at once' approach, there remain substantial barriers to routine use of Substance Abuse Disorder (SUD) screener in VR. These barriers appear to be perceptions of VR counselors that SUD screening of consumers is not sufficiently effective as a practice to justify the time involved with administering the instrument. This is in spite of consistent research finding that 25% of VR consumers likely have active SUD at the time they become eligible for VR.
4. Being able to implement the RUA in conjunction with the RRTC study likely saved an entire research cycle to discover the additional barriers that exist for full acceptance and implementation of this screener. Future research activities directed toward substance abuse screening in VR will include larger components associated with dissemination.

More information about the planning and implementation of this RUA is also available: Dr. Moore outlines his RUA's scope-of-work in his RUA proposal. Read about the progress of the work in this RUA's first interim report, submitted in June 2007, with updates in the second interim report, submitted at the end of August 2007, and the December 2007, third interim report. The April 2008 report describes their efforts to have the SAVR-S administered consistently across all the participating states. An outline of the measures Moore's team used to evaluate outcomes and user satisfaction was also appended. VR counselors took a pre-test that measured their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding substance abuse screening, followed up with a post-test. Another instrument measures their satisfaction (text version) with using the SAVR-S. Consumers who take the SAVR-S were also surveyed about their opinions of the screening procedure and how VR staff introduced it.