Rehabilitation Counselors' Attitudes Toward Harm Reduction Measures

Abstract

A set of issues which rehabilitation and other counselors must evaluate in their attitudes toward treatment modalities has to do with chemical use/abuse as it relates to counselor attitudes toward treatment and measures identified as “harm reduction”. Two measures of harm reduction which had been adopted primarily in Europe, and are now being used in communities in the United States, are needle exchange and methadone treatment. In order to examine rehabilitation counselors' attitudes toward these measures, a brief confidential survey was mailed to each member of the Ohio Rehabilitation Association about their attitudes toward such measures, as well as demographic information about the respondents. This information was then examined to provide the statistical data examined, which in turn resulted in the conclusions and recommendations to the study.

Health Professionals’ Attitudes toward Medications for Opioid use Disorder

“…80 NPCs who work in residential settings tend to have more negative attitudes toward MOUD compared to those who work in other settings. 63,68,69 Evidence suggests that NPCs tend to prefer MOUD to be combined with adjunctive counseling. Agnew 79 found that buprenorphine with adjunctive counseling was the most preferred treatment modality among a sample of NPCs.…”

“…45,47,68,75,82 Several studies of mixed samples have shown that pieces of training related to MOUD are effective in improving attitudes and increasing practice behaviors related to their use. 50,52,63,66 Furthermore, research has also shown that there is a strong desire for additional training related to MOUD among different types of health professionals. 55,85 Other studies have examined whether supplements to educational interventions can improve the efficacy of such pieces of training.…”

“In Sweden you are worthless. In Denmark you get an identity again” – on being perceived and received as a person who uses drugs in different drug policy settings

“…Institutional norms and policies have a great influence on the forms of care and people's disposition towards PWUD [44,45]. Similar to the application of deviance, Loseke discusses the development of conditions into "social problems, " and suggest that nothing is a social problem until it is constructed and accepted as such [46].…”