Moving research into community settings in the CSAT Methamphetamine Treatment Project: The coordinating center perspective?

The CSAT Methamphetamine Treatment Project (MTP) has been established to co nduct a ground-breaking exercise in bringing research into a closer relatio nship with community-based treatment service organizations. In this article , some of the opportunities and challenges faced by the MTP coordinating ce nter as it has attempted to bring research into community treatment organiz ations are described. Initially, there has been an active, energetic effort to design the study protocol, focus the activities of the project, and pri oritize the tasks to be accomplished. The methods for training the research staff and monitoring the conduct of the research in the community sites ar e described. A number of observations have been made about the different "c ultures and values" of the researchers and the seven clinical organizations where the project has been conducted. The myriad mistakes made and lessons learned about how to conduct a rigorous randomized clinical trial in commu nity treatment organizations may be important for future research-treatment efforts. There has been a wealth of experience gained in the first year of this project that may be of use as efforts move forward to reduce the gap between research and practice.