Contingency Management: Applied Behavior Analysis's Evidence-Based Contribution to Substance Use Treatment

: Contingency management is frequently discussed in substance use treatment literature without being recognized as what it is: a direct, field-native application of operant conditioning and the three-term contingency. This CEU positions contingency management as applied behavior analysis's own technology of change, not a technique borrowed from another discipline. It reviews the evidence base supporting contingency management, including its standing as the only treatment with significant evidence of effectiveness as a standalone approach for stimulant use disorder, for which no FDA-approved medication currently exists. The CEU also examines contingency management's move into practice outside traditional research settings, including its delivery through smartphone-based digital health platforms, and what that shift means for how BCBAs might design, evaluate, or consult on behavior change programs going forward.