Addiction Beliefs of Treatment Providers: Factors Explaining Variance

Abstract

This study investigated factors accounting for variance in beliefs among addiction-treatment providers regarding the etiology of addiction (N=295). A survey was mailed to members of three national treatmentprovider organizations. The 18-item Addiction Belief Scale (ABS) assessed strength of belief in the disease versus free-will model of addiction (a==.91).Seo.res on an eight-item Spiritual Belief Scale assessing spiritual thinking based on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) philosophy (a=.92), the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scales, and demographic questions were used to predict scores on the ABS.

Predictors of addiction treatment providers' beliefs in the disease and choice models of addiction

“…Relative to U.K. treatment providers, U.S. treatment providers both endorsed the view of addiction as a disease and rejected the view of addiction as a choice and as a way of coping with life. Disease model beliefs appear to have persisted as the dominant view of addiction in the United States since Schaler's (1992) initial use of the ABS, although three methodological issues suggest caution when comparing these studies. First, although assumed by Schaler to be very high, Schaler does not report the U.S.-based proportion of his sample; second, Schaler's methodology involved mailing and requesting the return of paper copies of his survey, whereas the current sample were recruited and provided data online; third, the current study did not use a repeated-measures design; it is highly unlikely that any treatment providers provided data for both our study and Schaler's study, and tracking down Schaler's sample was impossible.…”

“…Investigation of these questions was motivated by Schaler (1992), who found that treatment providers tended to believe that addiction is a disease from which only about 25% of people recover without medical or 12-step-based treatment. Treatment providers who reported stronger beliefs that addiction is a disease were significantly more likely to be women, members of the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC), present or past members of AA, certified addiction counselors/therapists, abstinent at present, and have stronger spiritual beliefs as defined in AA philosophy.…”

“…Treatment providers who reported stronger beliefs that addiction is a disease were significantly more likely to be women, members of the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC), present or past members of AA, certified addiction counselors/therapists, abstinent at present, and have stronger spiritual beliefs as defined in AA philosophy. Strength of spiritual beliefs, as measured by the Spiritual Belief Scale (SBS; Schaler, 1992) accounted for most variance (41%) in disease beliefs. However, although Schaler's sample comprised treatment providers working in the United States, Canada, and Australia, differences across these locations were not investigated.…”

“…Therefore, the extent to which addiction treatment providers believe their clients' addictive behaviors are diseased or chosen should be expected to have a strong bearing on how clients will attribute the causes of their problems, seek to resolve these problems, and believe in their capacity to achieve a desired change. Extending research by Schaler (1992), we examined addiction treatment providers' beliefs about addiction and investigated the factors explaining variance in beliefs, with a specific interest in the importance of country in which treatment is provided. two chosen for scrutiny in this study.…”

The Co-Relation of Alcoholics Anonymous Participation to Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment Outcomes

“…Indeed, some authors claim that the spiritual change discussed in the AA literature is a direct result of embracing a higher power, which subsequently leads directly to successful cessation of the use of substances (Green et al, 1998;Schaler, 1997). Further, there is evidence that spiritual change may be important in achieving positive outcomes, particularly within a 12-step modality (Horstmann & Tonigan, 2000;Jarusiewicz, 2000).…”