THE EFFECT OF AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON THE ROLE SECURITY OF MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSES TOWARDS CONFRONTING CLIENTS WITH DRINKING PROBLEMS (SUBSTANCE ABUSE, ALCOHOLISM).
Contributors: Miami University.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 76
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Alcoholism is the fourth leading health problem in the United States. The effects of alcoholism are costly both in terms of social consequences and financial losses. Treatment for alcoholism is available, however, only a small percentage of problem drinkers have been treated. There seems to be a reluctance on the part of health professionals to confront the drinker with his problem behavior and to assist him in obtaining needed treatment.

Several investigations have studied the attitudes of health professionals in search of an explanation for the lack of treatment for problem drinkers and have found that indeed, health professionals do have negative attitudes toward problem drinkers. There is also evidence that attitudes and behavior can be changed by training programs concerning alcoholism. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an educational program concerning alcoholism on the role security of medical-surgical nurses and the number of interventions made by nurses with problem drinkers.

A causal-comparative research design was used to compare the responses of nurses on the Alcohol and Alcohol Perception Questionnaire developed by Shaw, Cartwright, Spratley, and Harwin (1978). One group of nurses had attended an educational program on alcoholism (N = 25) and the other group of nurses had not (N = 35). The groups were similar in age, educational background and work experience.

Using the student t-test, significant differences between the two groups of nurses were found concerning Role Security. The nurses that had attended the educational program felt more secure in the role of confronting the drinker with his problem behavior and perceived more support from the employing agency to make interventions with problem drinkers. Further, it was found that the nurses that had attended the educational program actually made more interventions with drinkers about their problem than the nurses that had not attended. The groups were compared using chi-square.

The findings of this study have implications for nursing service and education. Educational programs can be a means to increase the interventions nurses make with problem drinkers. Therefore, nursing interventions with problem drinkers can be increased by providing inservice concerning alcoholism to practicing nurses and by increasing the amount of information presented to nursing students concerning alcoholism.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-10, Section: B, page: 3390.

Thesis (PH.D.)--MIAMI UNIVERSITY, 1985.

School code: 0126.