The creation and validation of the Measure of Effective Attributes of Trainers (MEAT)

Background Training is a core component in the implementation of empirically supported treatments, especially in the case of psychosocial interventions targeting mental illness. However, common forms of training are relatively ineffective in producing behavioral changes in providers. Trainers are in a strategic position to influence the success of training, but no research, to our knowledge, has explored whether personal characteristics of trainers (e.g., enthusiasm, charisma) increase effectiveness of training empirically supported treatments in the field of mental health. To address this gap, the current study created a measure of trainer characteristics (the Measure of Effective Attributes of Trainers (MEAT)) and assessed preliminary evidence for its reliability and validity by following gold standard measure development procedures.