Nurses’ personal knowledge and their attitudes toward alcoholism issues: A study of a sample of specialized services in Brazil

Abstract

Background: Changes to more positive attitudes and the development of skills to enable work with alcohol-and alcoholism-related issues were associated with knowledge in the area). The aim of this report is to investigate the relationship between nurses' and nursing assistants' attitudes toward alcohol and alcoholism and their knowledge of alcohol and alcoholism issues. Methods:The Scale of Attitudes toward alcohol, alcoholism and alcoholics and a knowledge questionnaire were completed using a convenience sample of nurses and nursing assistants (N = 75) working in eight clinics specializing in the treatment of alcohol and other drug problems in São Paulo City, Brazil.Results: A positive correlation was found between the number of correct answers on the knowledge questionnaire and positive attitudes of the participants. The age of the participants (p = .028), specific preparation in alcohol and other drugs during nursing education (p = .019) and knowledge assessed using the Knowledge questionnaire (p =.016) were significantly correlated with positive attitudes. Personal working category (nurse/nurse assistants; p = .007) significantly influenced the mean knowledge level. Conclusion:These results indicate that nurses show more positive attitudes toward alcohol and alcoholism problems than nurse assistants and that their score on the knowledge questionnaire was on average 1.456 points higher than that of nurse assistants, suggesting a relation between higher knowledge levels and positive attitudes.

Patterns of alcohol use and related issues: analysis of nurses' knowledge

“…hours, which is consistent with studies (11,18) that has pointed out that AOD contents are not taught during Professional training or are offered in quantities which are not sufficient to ensure proper management of knowledge situations involving the use of AOD (15,(19)(20) .…”

“…As explanation for this result, one can point out the lack of knowledge about this problem among health workers, a phenomenon well documented in the literature (7,11,(15)(16) which prevents the recognition of the problem and a more appropriate approach for these professionals in different health services (4,17) . This result also reflects the little attention being given to the issue of addictions in nursing syllabus (11)(12)18) which was also evidenced in this study where 60% of participants received no training on this topic during nursing education. Among those who reported receiving some content on the issue, most mentioned were offered between 5 and 10…”

Development and Testing of the Psychometric Properties of Thai Nurses’ Attitudes toward Alcohol-dependent Patients Scale

“…To help patients to continue reduction in alcohol consumption and maintain alcohol abstinence after the withdrawal phase, nurses are expected to provide counseling interventions, psychosocial counseling, and engage patients into self-help groups [16].The results of these nursing practices for alcohol-dependent patients may let nurses fail to engage with patients and may be uncertain whether this is within their scope of nursing practice, or they may perceive a lack of knowledge and skills in identifying and responding to affected patients [16].Furthermore, according to an addiction terminology, it has been found that addiction affects attitudes of professions toward patients [17]. The consequences of nurses' attitudes toward their patients can be identified as follows: quality of care, level of recognition of addiction as a treatable chronic condition, judgments, and stereotyped perceptions [7,18,19]. Previous studies about attitude of nurses toward alcohol-dependent patients reports that nurses have varying attitudes.…”

“…Previous studies about attitude of nurses toward alcohol-dependent patients reports that nurses have varying attitudes. Factors that influence nurses' attitude toward alcohol-dependent patients, whether positive or negative, include symptoms of alcohol problems, pattern of alcohol use, nurses' knowledge, nurses' beliefs about their roles and impact of their intervention on patients' drinking behaviors change [6,7,9].Other personal factors include the nurses' age, their own drinking habits, and belief about whether patients can be helped [18]. Understanding the attitude of nurses towards alcohol-dependent patients is therefore necessary because these patients demonstrate relatively high hospital utilization rates.…”

“…Basic training of nurses in Thailand does not sufficiently cover the skills and knowledge needed to treat complicated problems of alcoholdependent patients. Even when they are trained, many nurses do not believe that their interventions have influence on changing the drinking behaviors of their patients, nor are they confident to screen and give intervention [6,7]. Unlike other types of treatment in hospitals, nurses see the same alcohol relapsing patients return frequently.…”