Educating Treatment Professionals About Addiction Science Research: Demographics of Knowledge and Belief Changes

Abstract

Communication of accurate, objective, and timely scientific information to treatment professionals is important—especially in the “drug abuse” and addiction field where misinformation and a lack of exposure to new information are common. The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge and belief changes that accompanied educational workshops (3 or 6 hr-long) on addiction science targeted to treatment professionals (N = 1403) given in the United States and Puerto Rico between July 2000 and August 2001. Each workshop covered three main concepts: (1) terms and definitions; (2) basic neurochemistry of addiction; and (3) how new neurobiological knowledge will affect the treatment of addictions in the future. Analysis of variance was used to compare mean pretest to posttest change scores among levels of four independent variables: gender, age, occupation/position, and race/ethnicity. Workshop participants achieved a significant improvement in knowledge about addiction with younger groups achieving greater gains. Participants’ beliefs shifted in the desired direction. Significant differences in belief shifts occurred among occupational and gender groups, but not among race/ethnicity or age groups. There was also a consistent change in the policy belief subscale that related to how strongly the audience members believed research on addiction was important. We conclude that addiction science education provided to treatment professionals can increase their knowledge and change their beliefs about the causes of addictions. In addition, the workshop participants form a base of constituents who are likely to support greater addiction research funding.

• Addiction
• Beliefs
• Knowledge
• Educational workshops
• “Substance abuse”

Resumen

Es importante dar a conocer a los profesionales dedicados al tratamiento de pacientes adictos al uso de sustancias la información científica, precisa, objetiva y oportuna sobre este tema. Es particularmente importante en el campo del abuso de drogas y adicción donde la desinformación y la falta de contacto con nueva información son comunes. El propósito de esta investigación fue evaluar los cambios en el conocimiento y en las creencias que resultan de los talleres educacionales (de una duración de 3- o 6-horas) sobre la ciencia de la adicción enfocada hacia los profesionales de tratamiento para abuso de sustancias (N = 1.403). En cada taller se trataban tres conceptos principales: (1) términos y definiciones; (2) la neuroquímica básica de la adicción; y (3) cómo el nuevo conocimiento de la neurobiología afectará el tratamiento de adicciones en el futuro. Se utilizó el análisis de varianza para comparar la media aritmética de las diferencias en las calificaciones de las pruebas antes del taller y después del taller analizando cuatro variables independientes: género, edad, empleo/puesto, raza/etnicidad. Los participantes de los talleres lograron mejorar considerablemente su conocimiento sobre la adicción. Los participantes más jóvenes mejoraron su cocimiento aún más. Las creencias de los participantes cambiaron hacia la dirección deseada. Los cambios significativos fueron en los grupos de empleo/puesto y género, pero no sucedió lo mismo en los grupos de raza/etnicidad y edad. También hubo un cambio consistente en la sub-escala de creencia de política que estaba relacionado con la importancia que los miembros de la audiencia les dieron a las investigaciones sobre la adicción. Concluimos que la educación acerca de la ciencia de adicción proveída a los profesionales de tratamiento puede aumentar su conocimiento y cambiar sus opiniones acerca de las causas que ocasionan las adicciones. Además, los participantes de los talleres forman una base que probablemente apoyen futuras investigaciones en el campo de la adicción.

Résumé

Transmettre sans délai une information scientifique objective et exacte aux professionnels de santé est primordial, surtout en matière de toxicomanie où la désinformation et le manque d’accès aux nouvelles connaissances sont fréquents. L’objectif de cette étude conduite chez des professionnels de santé (1403) était d’évaluer les changements dans leurs convictions et leurs connaissances en la matière après participation à des séminaires de formation sur la toxicomanie conçus pour eux. Chaque séminaire (d’une durée de 3 ou 6 heures) couvrait trois concepts principaux: (1) terminologie et définition; (2) neurochimie de base de la dépendance; (3) incidence des nouvelles connaissances neurobiologiques sur l’avenir du traitement de la dépendance. En analysant la variance on a pu comparer les résultats obtenus avant les séminaires et ceux obtenus après, parmi les niveaux de quatre variables indépendantes: sexe, âge, profession et ethnie. Tous les groupes participant ont progressé d’une manière significative dans leur connaisssance de la dépendance, les plus grands bénéficiaires étant les groupes les plus jeunes. La conviction des participants a évolué dans la direction souhaitée. On a remarqué des différences substantielles dans ces changements dans les groupes où les participants étaient répartis par profession et par sexe, mais pas dans ceux où ils étaient répartis par âge ou par ethnie. Un autre changement net s’est produit dans l’attitude des participants vis-à-vis de la politique de recherche. Les questions de cette section tendaient à déterminer l’importance que les participants accordaient à la recherche en toxicomanie. Nous concluons que procurer aux professionnels de santé une formation en toxicomanie peut augmenter leurs connaissances et changer leurs convictions sur les causes de l’addiction. Qui plus est, les participants à ces séminaires forment une base électorale susceptible de soutenir une augmentation du financement de la recherche en toxicomanie.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth A. Lawson

Kenneth A. Lawson, Ph.D., R.Ph. is an Associate Professor in the College of Pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include evaluation of educational interventions, and factors affecting the utilization and costs of medications and other health care services. His teaching interests include health care systems at the undergraduate and graduate level, and research methods and data analysis at the graduate level.

Richard E. Wilcox

Richard E. Wilcox, Ph.D., is Doluisio Fellow & Professor of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy and Head of the Neuropharmacology Research Program, Institute for Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin. His approximately 100 scientific papers span behavior, brain chemistry, and computational chemistry approaches to understanding drug action in brain and behavior disorders, including schizophrenia. He is a past and current member of grant review groups for the National Institutes of Health. He is a winner of multiple teaching/advising awards in the College of Pharmacy. His research activities include computational chemistry approaches to drug structure-activity relationships, addiction education, and biomedical outcomes research.

John H. Littlefield

John Littlefield is Director of Academic Informatics Services (AIS), an educational and research support department at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The 53 AIS staff members support faculty with educational development, faculty development, distance learning, database development, and statistical analysis. John's research has focused on teaching and evaluating students in clinical settings. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and presentations at scientific meetings. His hobby is long-distance running.

Keenan A. Pituch

Keenan Pituch graduated from Florida State University in 1997 and is currently an Assistant Professor in quantitative methods. His research interests are in the areas of multi-level modeling, evaluation methodology, and teaching statistics.

Carlton K. Erickson

Carlton (Carl) K. Erickson, a research scientist, has been studying the effects of alcohol on the brain for over 30 years. Carl received his Ph.D. degree in pharmacology from Purdue University in 1965. He has held tenured teaching and research positions at The University of Kansas and The University of Texas since 1965. He presently is the Pfizer Centennial Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Addiction Science Research and Education Center in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), the College for Prevention of Drug Dependence (CPDD), and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).