Influence of a Co-Designed Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program on Clinician Attitudes Toward People Who Use AOD: A Quantitative Evaluation.
Shohreh Razavy, Vasiliki Betihavas, Jo River and 13 others
PMID 42015493WHAT IT FOUND
Clinicians self-reported less blame, anger and disappointment toward people who use drugs, and less support for criminalising drug laws, after a co-designed alcohol and other drug study day.
Attitudes about deserving collaboration did not change significantly.
Key findings
01After the education, clinicians reported greater agreement that life circumstances are responsible for drug use.
02Clinicians reported less anger and less disappointment toward people who use drugs.
03Support for current drug laws that criminalise drug use decreased, but the item about deserving to collaborate did not change significantly.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study had no control group, so the attitude changes cannot be proven to be caused by the education. Attitudes were self-reported immediately after the study day, so social desirability and short-term effects cannot be ruled out. The attitude scale was not validated, and some collaboration items started at the top of the scale, so further positive change may be hard to detect. The study did not measure patient care, service user experiences or long-term clinical outcomes. More than half had previously attended education facilitated by people with lived experience, and only 9 of 107 participants were occupational therapists, so the results may not apply to clinicians with little prior exposure or to OT practice specifically.
Declared interests
Funded by NSW Ministry of Health, Centre for Alcohol and Other Drugs. The supplied text does not report a separate conflicts-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this education improved patient care or that clinicians now collaborate better with people who use alcohol and other drugs. The study measured self-reported attitudes immediately after a one-day program, had no control group, and the item about deserving collaboration did not change significantly.