Coexisting addiction and mental health practices of a national addiction workforce

Abstract

While coexisting mental health problems (CEP) are recognised as the norm among people seeking addiction treatment, little is known about the capability of the addiction workforce to address CEP with clients during their treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the mental health assessment and treatment practices of addiction-treatment workers in New Zealand. Phone interviews were conducted with a representative national sample of New Zealand addiction-treatment workers (n = 232), and of these, 86 workers had recently completed a comprehensive assessment. Only 27 of this latter group reported inquiring about all five commonly experienced coexisting mental health disorders. This result differed significantly from workers’ perceived optimal assessment practice. One hundred and forty-nine from the total sample of 232 workers reported routinely addressing CEP with clients all or most of the time. The majority of workers endorsed a need for further education relating to mental health practice. Taken overall, the findings from this study contribute to the CEP literature and call for urgent education of the addiction-treatment workforce to increase its capability to respond to people with CEP.

Keywords:

• addiction treatment
• assessment
• comorbidity
• co-existing disorders
• staff education
• substance use disorders