TY - JOUR
T1 - Educating treatment professionals about addiction science research
T2 - Demographics of knowledge and belief changes
AU - Lawson, Kenneth A.
AU - Wilcox, Richard E.
AU - Littlefield, John H.
AU - Pituch, Keenan A.
AU - Erickson, Carlton K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse (National Institutes of Health) Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award DA 13430. We thank Erika Liczenczias and James Doherty for helping with the data entry and analysis.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Communication of accurate, objective, and timely scientific information to treatment professionals is important-especially in the "drug abuse" and addiction field where misinformation and a lack of exposure to new information are common. The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge and belief changes that accompanied educational workshops (3 or 6 hr-long) on addiction science targeted to treatment professionals (N = 1403) given in the United States and Puerto Rico between July 2000 and August 2001. Each workshop covered three main concepts: (1) terms and definitions; (2) basic neurochemistry of addiction; and (3) how new neurobiological knowledge will affect the treatment of addictions in the future. Analysis of variance was used to compare mean pretest to posttest change scores among levels of four independent variables: gender, age, occupation/position, and race/ethnicity. Workshop participants achieved a significant improvement in knowledge about addiction with younger groups achieving greater gains. Participants' beliefs shifted in the desired direction. Significant differences in belief shifts occurred among occupational and gender groups, but not among race/ethnicity or age groups. There was also a consistent change in the policy belief subscale that related to how strongly the audience members believed research on addiction was important. We conclude that addiction science education provided to treatment professionals can increase their knowledge and change their beliefs about the causes of addictions. In addition, the workshop participants form a base of constituents who are likely to support greater addiction research funding.
AB - Communication of accurate, objective, and timely scientific information to treatment professionals is important-especially in the "drug abuse" and addiction field where misinformation and a lack of exposure to new information are common. The purpose of this study was to assess knowledge and belief changes that accompanied educational workshops (3 or 6 hr-long) on addiction science targeted to treatment professionals (N = 1403) given in the United States and Puerto Rico between July 2000 and August 2001. Each workshop covered three main concepts: (1) terms and definitions; (2) basic neurochemistry of addiction; and (3) how new neurobiological knowledge will affect the treatment of addictions in the future. Analysis of variance was used to compare mean pretest to posttest change scores among levels of four independent variables: gender, age, occupation/position, and race/ethnicity. Workshop participants achieved a significant improvement in knowledge about addiction with younger groups achieving greater gains. Participants' beliefs shifted in the desired direction. Significant differences in belief shifts occurred among occupational and gender groups, but not among race/ethnicity or age groups. There was also a consistent change in the policy belief subscale that related to how strongly the audience members believed research on addiction was important. We conclude that addiction science education provided to treatment professionals can increase their knowledge and change their beliefs about the causes of addictions. In addition, the workshop participants form a base of constituents who are likely to support greater addiction research funding.
KW - "Substance abuse"
KW - Addiction
KW - Beliefs
KW - Educational workshops
KW - Knowledge
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U2 - 10.1081/JA-120038685
DO - 10.1081/JA-120038685
M3 - Article
C2 - 15461020
AN - SCOPUS:4444306346
SN - 1082-6084
VL - 39
SP - 1235
EP - 1258
JO - Substance Use and Misuse
JF - Substance Use and Misuse
IS - 8
ER -