The Role of Ethnicity in Alcohol Screening-Related Decision Making by Medical and Dental Trainees.

IF 2.2 3区医学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs Pub Date : 2025-11-01 Epub Date: 2025-02-17 DOI:10.15288/jsad.24-00394

Marco Funez-Ponce, Nicholas Bush, Ben Lewis, Mike Robinson, Jeff Boissoneault

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Abstract

Objective: Chronic heavy alcohol use increases the risk for developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), leading to adverse health outcomes. Evidence suggests that patient demographics are used to make treatment decisions, which contributes to barriers to AUD treatment experienced by Hispanic and Latino/a/x individuals. This study characterized the use of ethnicity in alcohol use assessment and treatment referral among medical trainees and dental trainees.

Method: Current medical trainees (n = 54) and dental trainees (n = 59) reviewed 32 vignettes varying systematically in sex, age, ethnicity, and alcohol concern cues. Trainees used 0-100 visual analog scales (VASs) to rate the likelihood of discussing the patient's alcohol use (VAS1), the likelihood that the patient has AUD (VAS2), comfort discussing alcohol use with the patient (VAS3), and the likelihood of referring to AUD-related treatment (VAS4). Idiographic regressions characterized individuals' decision-making policies. Group-level analysis determined the influence of trainee ethnicity and trainee type on patient ethnicity cue use.

Results: Almost all (96%-100%) trainees reliably used the alcohol concern cue when providing ratings. About 25%-56% of trainees used ethnicity as a cue. Trainee ethnicity did not significantly affect ethnicity cue use when evaluating vignettes (t < 1.37, p > .17; d < 0.56). Analyses indicated that medical trainees weighed the alcohol concern cue more heavily than dental trainees for VAS1.

Conclusions: Results suggested that a substantial proportion of trainees reliably used patient ethnicity to make alcohol treatment-related decisions, consistently to the potential detriment of Hispanic and Latino/a/x patients. Finally, the lower weighting of alcohol concern among dental trainees than medical trainees in all but one judgment suggests that dental trainees may not view alcohol screening as part of their professional role as strongly as medical trainees.

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种族在医疗和牙科学员酒精筛查相关决策中的作用。

目的：慢性重度酒精使用增加了发生酒精使用障碍（AUD）的风险，导致不良的健康结果。有证据表明，患者的人口统计数据用于制定治疗决策，这有助于西班牙裔/拉丁裔（H/L）个体经历AUD治疗的障碍。本研究的特点是在医学（MT）和牙科学员（DT）中使用种族进行酒精使用评估和治疗转诊。方法：当前MT （n=54）和DT （n=59）回顾了32个在性别、年龄、种族和酒精问题线索上系统变化的小插曲。受训者使用0-100视觉模拟量表（vas）来评估讨论患者酒精使用的可能性（VAS1），患者患有AUD的可能性（VAS2），与患者讨论酒精使用的舒适度（VAS3），以及参考AUD相关治疗的可能性（VAS4）。个体决策政策的具体回归特征。组水平分析确定受训人员种族和受训人员类型对患者种族线索使用的影响。结果：几乎所有（96-100%）受训人员在提供评分时都可靠地使用了酒精关注提示。25-56%的受训者使用种族作为线索。在评估小片段时，受训人员的种族对种族线索的使用没有显著影响（t.17, d）。结论：结果表明，相当大比例的受训人员可靠地使用患者种族来做出与酒精治疗相关的决定，这始终对H/L患者有潜在的危害。最后，除一项判断外，DT对酒精的关注权重低于MT，这表明DT可能不像MT那样强烈地将酒精筛查视为其专业角色的一部分。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs 医学-心理学

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

5.90%

发文量

224

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs began in 1940 as the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol. It was founded by Howard W. Haggard, M.D., director of Yale University’s Laboratory of Applied Physiology. Dr. Haggard was a physiologist studying the effects of alcohol on the body, and he started the Journal as a way to publish the increasing amount of research on alcohol use, abuse, and treatment that emerged from Yale and other institutions in the years following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In addition to original research, the Journal also published abstracts summarizing other published documents dealing with alcohol. At Yale, Dr. Haggard built a large team of alcohol researchers within the Laboratory of Applied Physiology—including E.M. Jellinek, who became managing editor of the Journal in 1941. In 1943, to bring together the various alcohol research projects conducted by the Laboratory, Dr. Haggard formed the Section of Studies on Alcohol, which also became home to the Journal and its editorial staff. In 1950, the Section was renamed the Center of Alcohol Studies.