Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment: Nurses Helping Colorado Training Program

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Public Health
• Substance Use Disorder Prevention

Background:

• Nurses Helping Colorado program trained nurses on Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT).
• SBIRT is a research-based strategy for preventing substance use disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of SBIRT training integrated into nursing curricula.
• To assess nursing students' knowledge, skills, and application of SBIRT post-training and post-graduation.

Main Methods:

• Training involved lectures, role-play, and supervised practice for undergraduate and graduate nursing students.
• Program evaluation used self-reports immediately post-training, 3-12 months later, and post-graduation.

Main Results:

• Trainees reported high satisfaction, increased knowledge, and willingness to use SBIRT, with sustained gains.
• Post-graduation, 52% used screening, 52% offered brief interventions, and 37% used referral to treatment.
• Results exceeded past graduates' performance and community benchmarks.

Conclusions:

• Integrating SBIRT training into nursing curricula leads to demonstrated learning and practice application.
• SBIRT education is suitable for nursing students across all educational stages and practice settings.