The Impact of an Online Educational Intervention on Attitudes of Primary Care Clinicians Toward Managing Patients With Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

Abstract Background Negative attitudes of primary care clinicians toward patients with substance use disorders affect the quality and delivery of care in this highly marginalized patient population. Purpose This project aimed to improve negative attitudes of primary care clinicians toward managing patients with substance use disorders. Methods A pretest-and-posttest design, employing multidimensional online educational interventions, was implemented from June to August 2020. The participants (n = 18) were recruited from a pool of 70 primary care clinicians at two community primary care agencies. The Affect Scale for Substance Users and 15-item Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers were administered before, immediately after, and 30 days after the intervention. Results There were statistically significant reductions in the immediate postintervention and 30-day postintervention mean scores in the Affect Scale for Substance Users and the disclosure and help-seeking subscale when compared with those of preintervention. The change in attitudes was maintained at 30-day postintervention. Conclusions The project findings support conducting and evaluating future educational programs for substance use disorder management among primary care clinicians. Because of the heterogeneity of the participants and the small sample size, the project results have limited generalizability. Overall, this project is among one of the few aimed at substance use disorder management among primary care clinicians.