Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge Change in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Workers Following AOD Screening and Brief Intervention Training

Assessing and responding to hazardous and risky alcohol and other drug use: The practice, knowledge and attitudes of staff working in mental health services

“…found from in-depth interviews with multi-disciplinary mental health staff, that training in co-morbidity led to a more positive attitude; assisted in helping professionals to better support people with a comorbid condition; and reduced staff negative attitudes regardless of the context they worked in and their years of previous experience. Previous longitudinal research on the effects of training on staff perceptions of AOD skills revealed that overall it did succeed in increasing perceptions of the usefulness of AOD screening and brief interventions (Christie et al, 2013). Support for this argument also comes from our own study where we found that previous AOD training and work experience were associated with improved practitioner knowledge, skills and attitudes.…”

“…A training program cannot be delivered in isolation if it is to be effective in the longer-term and lead to behaviour changes in practice. Christie et al recommended that to effectively support the uptake of newly acquired skills following training, workforce leaders needed to provide trainees with access to ongoing support and mentoring to conduct AOD interventions (Christie et al, 2013).…”

“…Questionnaire and procedure A questionnaire (65 questions) was used for assessing mental health staff attitudes, skills and knowledge (Anderson & Clement, 2006;Cartwright, 2006;Christie et al, 2013;Pulford et al, 2007;Sheridan et al, 2008). It was adapted, piloted (with a Dual Diagnosis clinician, Mental Health Team Leader, and three research staff) and amended accordingly in both hardcopy and on-line formats.…”

“…Barriers to appropriate service delivery for this complex Correspondence: Amanda Wheeler, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. E-mail: a.wheeler@griffith.edu.au consumer group include: appropriate screening for AOD use (such as availability and training to use structured tools), lack of staff training and knowledge (Christie, Black, Dunbar, Pulford, & Wheeler, 2013), inadequate support structures and complex multidisciplinary team dynamics (such as ineffective team communication, lack of consistent therapeutic approaches and frameworks) (Howard & Holmshaw, 2010). Reasons for the service delivery challenges go beyond the complexity of knowledge and skill requirements of the workforce.…”

A web‐based mental health promotion intervention for pharmacy staff to reduce stigmatising and discriminating attitudes

“…The T1 and T2 questionnaires contained two validated measures: the Depression Attitude Questionnaire, and the Mental Illness Attitude Scale, as well as a number of questions developed or adapted from other research . These questions enabled participants to self‐assess their confidence, skills, motivations and barriers to working with consumers and carers with mental health‐related issues: confidence and skills were explored using a series of 11 statements for pharmacists and five statements for support staff; motivations using a series of 11 statements; and barriers using a series of 12 statements for all participants.…”