Effectiveness of online training for improving knowledge, attitudes, and confidence of alcohol and other drug workers in relation to co-occurring mental health conditions

Abstract

There is increasing recognition that the high rates of co-occurring mental disorders among clients of substance use treatment services require alcohol and other drugs (AOD) workers to be skilled in their identification, management, and treatment. Despite advances in e-learning, to our knowledge, based on our review of the literature, there are no training programs with the capacity to build foundational knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in mental health, essential to the provision of evidence-based practice. The current study evaluated an evidence-based online program developed to address this gap, in a pre-post-design. One-hundred-fifteen Australian AOD workers completed pre-and post-training online surveys. Participants rated level of agreement with statements assessing comorbidity-related knowledge, attitudes, and confidence, which were reassessed immediately post-training. The overwhelming majority of participants found the training useful (94%), were satisfied (97%), and reported having gained knowledge that would enable them to work more effectively with comorbidity-related issues (95%); 89% reported having used skills gained in clinical practice. The starkest improvements were observed in relation to improved confidence and knowledge following training completion. Findings illustrate that online training programs, such as this could be used to improve the capacity of the current workforce, as well as the next generation of clinicians, to respond to comorbid mental health conditions.

Guiding Principles for Managing Co-occurring Alcohol/Other Drug and Mental Health Conditions: a Scoping Review

“…This said, some of the guiding principles identified in the current review such as 'no wrong door', 'provide trauma informed care', and 'support the professional development and competence of workers' might be taken as especially pertinent to managing clients with AOD and mental health comorbidities. This is because, compared to clients with a standalone condition, clients with comorbidities are disproportionately affected by the siloed nature of treatment and service provision ( (Lee & Allsop, 2020) and report especially high rates of exposure to trauma (~ 80%, (Dore et al, 2012), while the workforce expresses unmet training needs to address AOD and mental health comorbidities (Marel et al, 2021).…”