Publicity (in Dutch, Spanish, Norsk)

Dear readers,

During the past weeks, articles on our study appeared in Spanish and Dutch newspapers, and on the internet. For those who can read Dutch, Spanish or Norwegian:

Barcelona: Mission accomplished

 

The ICASA meeting in Barcelona is finished now. Yesterday we ended the training sessions I’ve told you about. At the very end of the conference, I summarized the key messages of this European collaborative initiative: we will determine the relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). In the coming years 14 addiction treatment centers in 10 countries will include over 6.000 patients with SUD. They will be evaluated for ADHD and 3 other disruptive disorders (bipolar disorder, anti social personality disorder and borderline personality disorder). The first results are expected by June 2010.
We feel that this study is a crucial first step in tackling the problem of ADHD in addiction. Having more knowledge of the size and scope of ADHD in SUD patients will add to a better understanding of the relevance of ADHD in this patient group and of the relation between these two chronic disorders.
During our conference the last few days, all participating countries came up with ideas and suggestions to optimize set-up, funding, logistics and publication of the study. That was fruitful for Wim van de Brink and I, as organizing committee. Monday back at the office we will immediately follow-up al lot of these leads and ideas; however in fact we can say: all is set and ready to go!
Some countries start very soon, others in the beginning of 2009. The next plenary ICASA meeting will be in spring 2009, probably in Stockholm. Shall I blog then again?

Finally: one idea we discussed here, is to open a more comprehensive website with detailed information of the study and the status in the countries. This blog could be part of it, and there may be more interactive items. If budget allows us to produce it, and that site is launched, I’ll tell you over here!

So we are ready to go. Suitcase is packed. Study can start. Mission accomplished.

Geurt

Practical details

Good morning!

The second day of the ICASA meeting was very lively. We’ve had discussions on several practical aspects that are important to manage the trial.
Data-managament: this will be done with a sophisticated system of Amsterdam Medical Centre AMC. Input of all CRF’s goes trough secure internet connections and the database is optimally guarded.
Finance: we have substantial central funding; however the participating centers will have to generate additional local funding. Transparency and independency is of outmost importance in this, we all agreed. We discussed the do’s and don’ts with this financial part,
Communication: we defined the key messages in our external communication, and exchanged views on how ADHD, SUD and psychiatric research are perceived in public opinion in the various countries. We have to take cultural differences into account when informing society of this important scientific work; e.g. it is essential that one understands that ICASA’s goal is to find evidence based diagnostic and treatment procedures. It is neither a disease awareness project nor a population-screening programme.

Furthermore, the first trainingsession commenced, to get all researchers trained in the specific diagnostic tools we use. Today we will go on practicing patient-interviews, and we’ll video-tape the individual training sessions to maximize the benefit of this. Could be fun as well! In this way we are prepared to handle all patient-interaction situations in real life practice.