Rewarding Recovery Project
American Indians are disproportionately affected by alcohol and drug abuse. Contingency management (CM) is a treatment approach in which patients receive tangible rewards for abstaining from alcohol and drug abuse. Most previous evaluations have shown that the effect sizes of CM interventions are among the largest of all mental health and behavioral interventions. Our goal is to determine whether a culturally appropriate CM treatment program leads to reductions in alcohol and drug abuse on two American Indian reservations. Phases 1 and 2, which included focus groups with providers and patients, have been completed at both sites. Phase 3, which is a randomized controlled trial of CM for alcohol and drugs, is now in progress. As of June 2016, we have successfully consented 30 participants.