Primary healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward patients with current or previous drug use

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

Characteristic	n (%)
Age
18–34 years	19 (21)
35–44 years	32 (36)
45–54 years	21 (24)
≥55 years	17 (19)
Sex
Female	63 (71)
Male	26 (29)
Profession
Nurse (non-specialist)	25 (28)
Specialist nurse	20 (23)
Physician (non-specialist)	21 (24)
Specialist physician	23 (26)
Years of professional experience
0–9 years	30 (34)
10–19 years	29 (33)
20≤ years	30 (34)

N = 89.

Table 2. Adapted Medical Condition Regard Scale scores.

MCRS score	Drug use	OAT	Depression
Median (min–max; IQR)	44 (23–63; 38–49)^a	44 (24–63; 40–51)	51 (37–62; 47–55)
n (%) that agree with each statement
1. I prefer not to work with patients like this	36 (49)	33 (37)	15 (17)
2. Patients like this irritate me	23 (26)	13 (15)	3 (3)
3. I enjoy giving extra time to patients like this	41 (46)^a	41 (46)	65 (73)
4. Patients like this are particularly difficult for me to work with	47 (53)	34 (38)	19 (21)
5. Working with patients like this is satisfying	41 (46)	46 (52)	67 (75)
6. I feel especially compassionate toward patients like this	56 (63)	60 (67)	77 (87)
7. I would not mind working inconvenient hours to take care of patients like this	10 (11)	14 (16)	18 (20)
8. I can usually find something that helps patients like this feel better	60 (67)	63 (71)	85 (96)
9. There is little I can do to help patients like this	22 (25)	20 (23)	8 (9)
10. It is fair that healthcare services treat this type of patients equally as others who do not have the same problems.	79 (89)	80 (90)	88 (99)
11. Treating patients like this is a waste of medical dollars	6 (7)	4 (5)	5 (6)

IQR: interquartile range; OAT: opioid assisted treatment.

N = 89.

^a Missing n = 1.

Table 3. Factors associated with MCRS scores for patients with drug use/in OAT.

	Drug use^Table Footnotea		OAT
	Mean/median MCRS score	p Value	Mean/median MCRS score	p Value
Age		.65		.83
18–34 years	44/47		44/48
≥35 years	44/44		45/44
Sex		.79		.59
Female	44/44		44/44
Male	43/46		45/47
Profession		.54		.63
Nurse	44/45		44/44
Physician	43/44		45/46
Professional experience		.85		.45
0–19 years	44/44		45/45
≥20 years	43/46		44/44

MCRS: Medical Condition Regard Scale; OAT: opioid assisted treatment.

Mann–Whitney’s test. N = 89.

^a Missing n = 1.