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Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine if a conventional educational training evening influenced pharmacists' attitudes towards methadone substitution programmes and substance misusers. The sample consisted of 42 community pharmacists who attended two locally organized training evenings dealing with aspects of methadone prescribing. The Abstinence Orientation Scale (AOS) measuring attitudes to abstinence‐orientated methadone substitution programmes was administered. Attitudes towards substance users and knowledge of methadone were also assessed. Pharmacists completed scales immediately before and after the educational intervention and a month later. Pharmacist assistants completed questionnaires at baseline and at 1‐month follow‐up. The null hypothesis tested was that there was no significant attitudinal change following the educational intervention. The mean pharmacist AOS score indicated a relatively strong commitment to abstinence programmes which decreased with time (p<0.48). Pharmacist assistant scores showed a significant decrease at 1 month to a mean of 3.41 (p<0.046). Drug disapproval and methadone knowledge scores showed a non‐statistically significant increase over the follow‐up period for both groups. These results indicate that there is a minimal change in attitude towards methadone programmes; substance misuse and knowledge of methadone among pharmacists following structured educational training in this area. This suggests that alternative means of addressing these issues need to be considered.
Acknowledgements
This research was supervised by Dr Peter Donnelly of Cefn Coed Hospital, Swansea NHS Trust. Staff Scales were used with kind permission from Dr John Caplehorn.