Effect of a course on students' attitudes toward substance abuse and its treatment

From 1978 through 1982, pretests and posttests of second-year medical students' attitudes toward substance abuse and its treatment showed that positive attitude change could be achieved during a substance abuse course. When the course was scheduled in competition with demanding basic science courses, however, the students' attitudes did not become as positive as or became more negative than when the course was part of a less demanding schedule. The course used lectures and reading assignments to provide information on substance abuse and used patient contact to change attitudes toward substance abusers and treatment. Emphasis was placed on patient management problems and small-group discussions. The changes in the students' attitudes are assumed by the authors to be positive, but the link between these attitudes and good clinical practice has not been demonstrated.