Research progress on effectiveness, transportability, and dissemination of empirically supported treatments: Integrating theory and research.

Herschell, McNeil, and McNeil's documentation of the lag in the dissemination of child empirically supported treatments (ESTs) relative to adult ESTs highlights an important issue that needs to be addressed if progress is to be made in helping children who suffer from debilitating behavioral and emotional disorders. The Herschell et al. article brings to the foreground a myriad of other issues, however, that need to be addressed in order that the profession may achieve the long-term goal of widespread deployment of ESTs. In this commentary, we use Herschell et al. as a point of departure for highlighting one issue that we believe is particularly critical. Namely, we highlight the importance of balancing Herschell et al.'s current call for more basic research on dissemination with a call for more basic theory on effectiveness, transportability, and dissemination, and, more significantly, the integration of theory and research.