Alcohol Teaching within Occupational Therapy Courses: a Case for Larger Measures

Abstract

The ubiquity of alcohol abuse problems encountered by practising health care workers is not reflected by the scale of training input into professional qualification courses. The present survey found this to be the case within occupational therapy education and training. Practising occupational therapists were aware of basic health information about alcohol. However, they were reluctant and lacked confidence to engage in screening assessment or basic treatment with the problem drinkers, whom they perceived as a significant proportion of their caseload. Enhanced training in alcohol and substance misuse would reinforce both the inevitable involvement with these clients and the legitimate role of the occupational therapist in their management.