Examining the Attitudes of Non-Psychiatric Practicing Healthcare Workers Towards Patients With Alcohol Problems in...

Problematic alcohol-use affect the physical and mental well-being of hospitalised individuals and may receive screening and brief-intervention during treatment. Non-psychiatric doctors and nurses might respond inadequately due to negative attitudes and beliefs. This study aimed to examine these attitudes of non-psychiatric workers in the medical and surgical wards.

A total of 457 doctors and 1643 nurses were recruited from the medical, surgical and orthopaedic disciplines over a period of 4 months. Three questionnaires were administered: demographics, Alcohol & Alcohol-Problems Perceptions Questionnaire (AAPPQ) and Staff Perception of Alcohol Treatment Resources.

About 128 doctors and 785 nurses responded. Around 75.5% doctors and 51.9% nurses endorsed role-legitimacy in the AAPPQ. Both the doctor (86.7%) and nurse (77.6%) groups agreed on the importance to initiate intervention for patients with problematic alcohol-use in daily work. Both groups were sceptical and negative towards these patients endorsing low-level role-adequacy (41.2%), role-support (36.9%), motivation (36.5%), task-specific self-esteem (25.1) as well as work satisfaction (20.5%).

Doctors and nurses demonstrated low levels of therapeutic commitments towards patients with problematic alcohol-use thereby necessitating the introduction of in-house programmes to educate, empower and emphasise the importance of therapeutic contact with patients for alcohol intervention.

The prompt identification and treatment of patients with alcohol problems are contingent on the workers' attitudes towards them. This study's results should spark a nation-wide interest to improve the training and recognition of such patients and providing adequate educational resources.