Workforce development: An important paradigm shift for the alcohol and other drugs sector

Figures & data

Figure 1. The different levels and components of workforce development (Roche & Pidd, 2010).

Table 1. Approaches to enhance the uptake of innovation among health professionals (Bywood et al., 2008).

Issue	Recommended approach
Characteristics of messages	• Give clear and succinct messages, providing accurate, evidence-based information • Use focussed learning objectives that require small practical changes • Use an interactive format that is appealing, persuasive and encourages participation • Use tailored information that is personalised, modified to the local setting and relevant to practitioner and client needs • Use reinforced messages, with additional materials and support • Sustain the messages over a long period • Have a reliable and credible information source.
Structural factors	• Have clear identification of roles and activities • Involve systems or procedures that are accessible and easy to use, with little effort required to comply • Include an assessment of, and focus on, barriers to change • Address change at multiple levels, including the individual practitioner behaviour, organisational structure and culture, and health system policy • Involve organisational changes that require practitioners to respond or take action (e.g. automatic prompts and obligatory responses)

Figure 2. Drug use is more common among countries with greater income inequality. Source: (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2010).

Table 2. Potential strategies to provide support for alcohol and other drug workers (Skinner, 2005).

	Social/emotional support	Instrumental support
Organisation	• Ensuring fairness of treatment • Providing valued rewards • Ensuring supportive supervision	• Ensuring good job conditions (physical safety, job security, promotion paths, autonomy) • Addressing work overload • Addressing role ambiguity or conflict • Providing access to high-quality resources and equipment
Managers/supervisors	• Channelling/facilitating organisational support • Providing positive social interaction (praise, encouragement, caring, respect) • Recognising and rewarding good work • Involving workers in decision-making
Co-workers	Providing positive social interaction (praise, encouragement, caring, respect)	• Providing help and advice • Filling in when others are absent • Assisting with heavy workloads • Providing constructive feedback • Appreciation and recognition • Sharing duties and responsibilities

Table 3. Seven steps to effective workforce planning (Cotten, 2007) adapted for the AOD field.

Step	Task
Define future strategic directions for services	Document future strategic directions and identify the core or strategic skills needed
Scan internal and external environments	Assess likely service provision requirements, demographic changes among staff and clients, labour market forecasts, technology and treatment trends and workers in the educational pipeline
Model the current workforce	Model workforce demographics, characteristics, capabilities and distribution
Assess future workforce needs and project future workforce supply	Match anticipated characteristics and levels of treatment demand and compare this to projected workforce supply trends across all occupations (new workers and exiting workers)
Identify gaps and develop gap-closing strategies	Identify gaps (more workers, different skill sets or positions and work process redesign), retain workers with needed skills, recruit or develop workers, retain essential knowledge and build worker skills
Implement gap-closing strategies	Implement chosen gap-closing strategies
Evaluate the effectiveness of gap-closing strategies  and revise as needed	Check that workforce planning assumptions were valid; strategies are being implemented as planned; and strategies are having the desired impact

Roche, A.M., & Pidd, K. (2010). Alcohol and other drugs workforce development issues and imperatives: Setting the scene. Adelaide: National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, Flinders University

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Bywood, P., Lunnay, B., & Roche, A.M. (2008). Effective dissemination: A systematic review of implementation strategies for the AOD field. Adelaide: National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, Flinders University

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Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2010). The spirit level: Why equality is better for everyone. London: Penguin

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Skinner, N. (2005). Workplace support. In Skinner, N., Roche, A.M., O’Connor, J., Pollard, Y. & Todd, C. (Eds.), Workforce development TIPS (Theory into practice strategies): A resource kit for the alcohol and other drugs field. Adelaide: National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University

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Cotten, A. (2007). Seven steps of effective workforce planning. Washington, WA: IBM Center for the Business of Government

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