Sourcing ‘what works’ evidence from 1 May

KEY MESSAGES

1. From 1 May 2021 there has been a change in how you can remain updated on UK-relevant research evaluating interventions to treat or prevent substance use problems and on the meaning and practice implications of the evidence base.

2. Drug and Alcohol Findings will no longer routinely issue updates. Supported by Findings’ co-owner Natalie Davies, this function will instead be provided free of charge by the Society for the Study of Addiction (http://www.addiction-ssa.org) as part of its mission to promote evidence-informed practice.

3. To continue to be updated on research and on the evidence base, SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOCIETY’S WEBSITE USER MAILING LIST at https://www.addiction-ssa.org/register/website-user.

4. For remaining services from Drug and Alcohol Findings, STAY SUBSCRIBED TO THE EFFECTIVENESS BANK MAILING LIST (or join at http://findings.org.uk/mailing_list.php?s=ml) and/or remain in contact through your usual channels.

5. Our existing archive of analyses of research and other documents will remain available at https://findings.org.uk?s=ml.

BACKGROUND TO THE CHANGES

These developments have been necessitated by changes in the funding priorities of our long-time and generous supporters the Society for the Study of Addiction (http://www.addiction-ssa.org) and Alcohol Change UK (https://alcoholchange.org.uk), allied with the progressive retirement of Mike Ashton, the founder of Drug and Alcohol Findings. Both funders remain enthusiastic advocates for the project, and have worked with us to ensure that practitioners, managers and service planners will continue to be supported by insightful, practitioner-oriented interpretations of evaluation research.

**The ending of the update service from Drug and Alcohol Findings does not represent a ‘cliff edge’ in the support available to practitioners.** The Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) is a national UK charity known for its dedication to research and evidence-informed practice. Its plans promise to build on and extend the work begun by Drug and Alcohol Findings in 1999, aided by the transfer to the Society of Findings’ co-editor Natalie Davies. “With Natalie’s help, the SSA website will become ever more active in promoting the scientific understanding of addiction and advocating for the use of the evidence base in policy and practice,” predict the Society. Since joining Findings in September 2015, Natalie has become the main source of the research analyses you have been reading. From 1 May 2021 her integrity, insight, understanding, rigour and knowledge will continue to benefit the sector via her work with the Society.

While you should now look to the Society for routine updates on the meaning and implications of research, thanks to their continued funding, the archive of analyses and reviews accumulated by Drug and Alcohol Findings will remain freely available at https://findings.org.uk. Discussions are also underway on services which may continue to be funded from the Effectiveness Bank, and other occasional work may be issued. To benefit from any further work, STAY SUBSCRIBED TO OUR MAILING LIST (or join at http://findings.org.uk/mailing_list.php) and/or remain in contact through your usual channels.

THANKS TO OUR READERS

There can rarely have been a more appreciative and supportive set of readers than those to be found among our roughly 4,000 mailing list subscribers and other contacts, including about 8,000 through the LinkedIn professional networking service. Your feedback documented at https://findings.org.uk/comments.php has sustained us in the provision of this internationally recognised and unique resource, which began and ended as a service to the UK drug and alcohol sector to help it benefit from the investment in research across the world. Your engagement and the funding support which enabled it has shown that the UK’s practitioners and service planners pay more than lip service to the ideal of improving the lives of clients, patients and communities through an understanding of research. Without your support, we would have folded at the first hurdle when we attempted to launch a magazine in 1999, and again when we sought to gain a usership for the web-based equivalent in 2006.

FAREWELL AND HELLO FROM CO-OWNER NATALIE DAVIES

After six years working with the inimitable Mike Ashton at Drug and Alcohol Findings, I am moving on to a new role with the Society for the Study of Addiction. I’ve learned so much from Mike, and I’m honoured that he picked me to work alongside him, first as editorial assistant back in 2015, then as assistant editor in 2017, and finally as co-owner and co-editor in 2018. I’m really going to miss working with Mike on a day-to-day basis, but I’m very pleased that together we will continue on as co-owners of Drug and Alcohol Findings to ensure that the Effectiveness Bank archive (including every analysis, hot topic, matrix bite and issue of the magazine published since 1999) remains accessible to the many readers who rely on it now, and the new readers who discover its benefits every year.

I’d like to send my heartfelt thanks to all of you for trusting me to provide you with information and analysis about ‘what works’ intervention research, and to so many of you who personally reached out over the years with feedback and advice. At the Society I hope to continue encouraging compassionate and critical discussions about a wide range of interventions and policies, and would be delighted if you chose to follow along with our progress there.

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Findings is supported by the Society for the Study of Addiction and Alcohol Change UK.