Does clinical placement in a community alcohol and other drugs rehabilitation centre influence students’ career intention?

Abstract

Due to an ageing workforce, there is a growing need for greater numbers of nurses to work in areas, such as mental health and alcohol and other drugs (AOD) rehabilitation. These practitioners need to approach their work as 'recovery-oriented practitioners'. Positive experiences and preceptorship during clinical placement in AOD rehabilitation settings might influence students' later career choices and address some of the workforce shortage issues. The aim of the present concurrent, mixed-methods study was to explore students' perceptions of their clinical placement experience in a community-based AOD rehabilitation setting, and to examine attitude, career intention, and satisfaction with the placement. Fifty-eight students completed pre-post-test surveys, with closed and open-ended questions, which included standardized measures. A small sample of survey respondents also agreed to participate in a semistructured interview. The quantitative results revealed two predictors for higher intention to pursue a career in AOD: (i) a high satisfaction with their clinical placement (β = 0.29, P = 0.008); and (ii) a high baseline attitude to recovery-oriented practice (β = 0.28, P = 0.013). The qualitative findings identified five factors influencing placement experience: (i) educational factors; (ii) students' background factors; (iii) placement factors; (iv) client factors; and (v) staff factors. A model that synthesizes the quantitative and qualitative findings was also developed. In conclusion, clinical placement in a community-based AOD rehabilitation centre improved students' intention to work in that setting.

Knowledge and Practice towards Alcohol Consumption in a Sample of University Students

“…It has been reported that healthcare student's positions and beliefs about alcohol are still unclear and probably stereotyped [85]. Furthermore, specific clinical placements in alcohol rehab facilities were proved effective in sensitizing students about alcohol abuse disorder [86].…”

The impact of curriculum on nursing students’ attitudes, perceptions and preparedness to work in primary health care: An integrative review

“…Almost thirty years after moving out of the hospital-based training model, nursing education has been firmly established in the tertiary sector internationally (Halcomb & Newton, 2017). Graduates' career choices and their confidence and preparedness to work in a particular setting are impacted upon by a number of factors, including curricula (McCann, Clark, & Lu, 2010), school and workplace cultures, and perspectives projected by lecturers and clinical instructors (McCann, Clark, & Lu, 2010), personal and placement experiences (Che, Chong, & Hairi, 2018;Salamonson et al, 2018;Wareing et al, 2018) and preconceived ideas of settings (Ong et al, 2017;Thongpriwan et al, 2015). Whilst there has been research undertaken examining the preparedness of undergraduate nursing students in some specific clinical areas, such as aged care (Algoso, 2015), critical care and mental health (Ramluggun, Anjoyeb, & D'Cruz, 2017;Thongpriwan et al, 2015), PHC has received far less attention (Keleher, Parker, & Francis, 2010).…”

Undergraduate nursing student knowledge and attitudes of healthcare consumers with problematic alcohol and other drug use: A scoping review

“…2018; Salamonson et al . 2018). Pereira et al (2018) explored perceptions and knowledge of undergraduate students on identifying and providing interventions to people who smoked cocaine, drawing a quantitative survey sample ( n = 164) from two Brazilian nursing schools.…”

“…Salamonson et al . (2018) used a mixed‐methods design to determine perceptions and knowledge of participants ( n = 55) after a clinical placement in a community‐based AOD treatment setting, using both a survey of validated measures of attitudes to AOD recovery and treatment and semi‐structured interviews. Although Salamonson et al .…”

“…Although Salamonson et al . (2018) provide strong evidence that clinical placements in AOD treatment settings increase the knowledge of students and have a positive influence on intentions to work in these clinical specialties, the study sample included three medical and counselling students in addition to nursing participants. Pereira et al.’s (2018) study found that despite the curriculum incorporating AOD content, a minimal number of participants (10%) reported they were adequately prepared to work with people who smoked cocaine, and 11.7% described a willingness to work with this cohort.…”