Advancing Alcohol and Other Drug Education among Social Work Faculty: An Evaluation of Social Work Faculty Immersion Training

Abstract

This study is an educational evaluation of participants (N = 50) in a four-day immersion training program funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Using a pretest-posttest design, clinical social work faculty participants showed statistically significant (p < .001) improvement in overall alcohol and other drug-related knowledge (Baseline: Mean[SD] = 8.75 [2.44]; Post-Intervention: Mean[SD] = 13.88[1.96], Cohen’s d = −2.16) in the domains of screening/assessment, brief intervention, medication-assisted treatment, and recovery and relapse prevention. Corresponding increases were also observed for faculty confidence in teaching clinical skills related to alcohol and other drug screening, assessment, and treatment.

Faculty Education in Addiction Training (FEAT): Evaluating an Online Training Program for Multidisciplinary Health Professions Educators

“…Consistent with prior evaluation studies of CRIT and ADEP, 13 , 16 participants’ confidence and preparedness in teaching social work and medical residents was assessed at baseline and immediately post-FEAT. Respondents used a four-point scale (1 = not at all confident, 4 = very confident) to rate their confidence and preparedness to teach various AOD topics and clinical skills to students in their respective discipline.…”

“…Many current educational programs that focus on AOD issues reach only a small minority of health care professionals or educators. Although traditional in-person AOD training programs have been highly successful with medical and social work faculty, including some led by members of our own team (e.g., Chief Resident Immersion Training [CRIT] in Addiction Medicine, [12][13][14] the Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program [ADEP] [15][16][17] ), the in-person format makes it difficult-due to cost and logistical challenges-to train large numbers of professionals/educators. Thus, we see a pressing need for cost-effective innovations to increase the reach of AOD training.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue: Educating Social Workers about Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders

“…In the third article , Lundgren and colleagues (2018b) present the results of an educational evaluation of faculty participants in our four-day ADEP immersion training program. Baseline data suggest that, prior to participation in the immersion program, faculty knowledge of core AOD content and confidence in teaching AOD-related material are disconcertingly low (even among the select group of clinical faculty that participated in our program).…”