[Improvement in the therapeutic attitudes of health care professionals who offer cognitive behavioral therapy towards substance abusers].

Abstract

Aim: Therapeutic attitudes of health care professionals toward people with substance abuse are predictors of better health care. This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine changes in therapeutic attitudes of health care professionals who offered the Serigaya Methamphetamine Relapse Prevention Program (SMARPP). The SMARPP was developed based on the Matrix Model in Japan and is a new cognitive behavioral therapy for drug abusers.

Methods: We compared therapeutic attitudes toward drug and alcohol abusers at baseline and a 6-month follow-up between health care professionals who provided the SMARPP to patients (the SMARPP group, n = 38) during the follow-up and professionals who did not (control group, n = 67). These health care professionals worked at the same workplace. Therapeutic attitudes were measured using scores of the Drug and Drug Problems Perception Questionnaire (DDPPQ) and the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perception Questionnaire (AAPPQ). We conducted repeated two-way analysis of covariance of the scores with group and time as factors. We calculated the effect sizes of mean differences between the groups at the follow-up survey.

Results: There was a significant interaction between group and time (p < 0.05). The average scores of the DDPPQ and the AAPPQ in the SMARPP group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). The effect sizes (Cohen's d) of the four subscales in the DDPPQ ranged from 0.37 to 0.55, and the effect size of the one subscale in the AAPPQ was 0.21.

Conclusions: Therapeutic attitudes of staff who offer the SMARPP are improved, especially regarding attitudes toward people with drug abuse. Professionals who offer the SMARPP may acquire knowledge and skills to deal with drug problems and have increased satisfaction and confidence in their work.