Project MATCH Monograph Series

The Project MATCH Series is the result of the efforts of investigators of the multisite clinical trial Project MATCH (1990–1997), an initiative funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to fill in research gaps in published literature and to provide treatment procedures from Project Match to other researchers and clinicians. Due to continuing interest in the series, NIAAA has repackaged the eight volume series and made it available online. The electronic documents are provided here for convenience. Additional information can be found on the Project MATCH Monograph Series website of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Volume 1: Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy Manual: A Clinical Research Guide for Therapists Treating Individuals With Alcohol Abuse and Dependence—”The Twelve Step Facilitation intervention (Volume 1), “=which now is regarded as an evidence-based intervention, continues to be supported by numerous studies, both as a sole therapy and an adjunct treatment. This intervention has since been extended to an early recovery program for both alcoholism and addiction to other substances. Although there are a plethora of new clinical assessments and diagnostic scales, the Jellinek Assessment of Symptoms, which is included in the manual’s appendix, and the description of the phases of alcoholism that originated many years ago still deserve a place in the manual and continue to resonate with many clinicians. Brief forms of Twelve Step Facilitation and other adaptations have since been developed and are available from health care, social services staff, and specialists in diverse settings, including emergency departments and psychiatry practices. The Web sites of several treatment programs now feature Twelve Step Facilitation, and many training courses are available that offer continuing-education credits for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors (NIAAA, 2019).”

Volume 2: Motivational Enhancement Therapy Manual: A Clinical Research Guide for Therapists Treating Individuals With Alcohol Abuse and Dependence—”Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) (Volume 2) remains one of the most highly requested of the volumes. MET has burgeoned into a widely used approach and has been extended to include interventions for other behaviorally driven health conditions, such as pregnancy. This approach is useful for both heavy and light drinkers, users of other substances, and a wide variety of age groups, including adolescents. Based on a nondirective approach, MET seeks to motivate the client to change his or her drinking behavior. The wide success of MET has debunked the myth that confrontation or direct persuasion is the most effective approach for substance abuse intervention. As with Twelve Step Facilitation, the literature shows strong evidence of MET’s effectiveness and efficacy, and numerous Web sites and training programs on this approach are available (NIAAA, 2019).”

Volume 3: Cognitive-Behavioral Coping Skills Therapy Manual: A Clinical Research Guide for Therapists Treating Individuals With Alcohol Abuse and Dependence—”The roots of Cognitive-Behavioral Coping Skills Therapy (CBT) actually predate Project MATCH. The manual draws heavily on material first published in 1989 by Dr. Peter Monti. The general framework and goals, although unchanged over the years, have seen progress. For example, CBT now is being applied to other diseases and disorders, including insomnia, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, addiction, and depression. This therapy has proved especially useful for treating adolescents, as it enables the clinician to easily tailor the discussion to meet the needs of a younger patient. CBT also is providing promising results in group settings of patients with bipolar and panic disorders (NIAAA, 2019).”

Volume 4: The Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC): An Instrument for Assessing Adverse Consequences of Alcohol Abuse: Test Manual—”Since the initial publication of this manual, this instrument has been adapted for online use. It also was evaluated as part of a Web-based brief motivational intervention, www.drinkerscheckup.com. In addition, a new version of DrInC was proposed recently that offers greater validity and usability. This self-administered family of instruments measures a range of social, personal, and psychological consequences of problematic alcohol use. Long and short forms are available. DrInC has been used to assess changes in drinking consequences during clinical trials and as a clinical tool to evaluate patient status at the start of treatment (NIAAA, 2019).”

Volume 5: Form 90: A Structured Assessment Interview for Drinking and Related Behaviors: Test Manual—”This manual was the first detailed publication on Form 90, a family of related instruments that generate both baseline and follow-up information. Form 90 is an extension of the Traditional Time Line Follow Back method, so named because it provided guidelines for assessing alcohol consumption for the previous 90 days. Among other additions, Form 90 introduced the Steady Pattern Chart to identify periods of time when the individual drank in a consistent fashion, thus obviating the need for day-by-day questioning for those periods. Electronic drink calculators, such as the Time Line Follow Back Standard Drink Unit Calculator, can now be used to convert raw data to standard drink units across a wide variety of beverage types and sizes and are useful for increasing the accuracy and consistency of data across multiple sites and users. This calculator has been used in several academic multisite clinical trials, Phase 2 NIAAA multisite clinical trials, as well as larger Phase 3 pharmaceutical trials (NIAAA, 2019).”

Volume 6: Improving Compliance With Alcoholism Treatment and Volume 7: Strategies for Facilitating Protocol Compliance in Alcoholism Treatment Research “are companion volumes that address the issue of compliance. Both are compendia of strategies for enhancing the patient’s compliance with psychosocial treatments as well as the therapist’s compliance with treatment protocols. Volume 6 addresses communication strategies and therapist compliance (e.g., assuring treatment fidelity, setting goals, and establishing a healthy and trusting therapeutic relationship). Volume 7 includes facilitating protocol compliance in research settings (e.g., adherence to medication regimes and visit attendance).

Both manuals feature specific hands-on strategies for tracking and increasing attendance and educating participants. Advances in technology, such as modern software and online real-time data entry, have made the issue of compliance much easier to manage. Electronic medication dispensing and monitoring systems, developed using NIAAA Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) contracts, provide automated management of medications regimes for research and clinical situations. Most research sites now have automated tracking systems that schedule and track attendance and alert staff when patients have missed an appointment. Likewise, medication adherence has become easier with blister-card packaging that identifies missed doses (NIAAA, 2019).”

Volume 8: Project MATCH: Hypotheses: Results and Causal Chain Analyses—”This final volume offers a detailed accounting of the vision that shaped the hypotheses tested in Project MATCH. Each of the hypotheses required a rigorous specification of the postulated mechanisms of change, along with the statistical model to be used for analysis. In addition to presenting the a priori hypothesis and causal chain, the volume reports the results of tests from the chain of events in each of the causal models. Each step of every model was carefully examined to see where the postulated model was supported and where it failed. This approach was innovative at the time, both conceptually and statistically, and represented a methodological step forward in behavioral research (NIAAA, 2019).”