Pre-training SBIRT knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of social work students and medical residents

ABSTRACT

Substance misuse is a major ongoing public health issue. SBIRT is a helpful tool for assessing and identifying at-risk substance use. Evaluation of SBIRT trainings demonstrate post- training changes, however, baseline differences in SBIRT knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors by different health professionals are relatively understudied. Baseline knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and behaviors were compared between medical residents (n = 466) and social work students (n = 772). Medical residents report more SBIRT experience and objective knowledge, but no difference existed in confidence levels between groups. Social work students exhibited less negative judgment about people who use substances overall. Results suggest SBIRT training tailored to different audiences would improve outcomes by aligning with profession-specific needs. Future research recommendations include exploring interprofessional approaches to training.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• brief intervention
• drug
• residency
• SBIRT
• screening
• social work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under Grants [#1U79TI025379 and 1U79TI020257-01].