@article{ref1,
title="Physicians' attitudes toward unhealthy alcohol use and self-efficacy for screening and counseling as predictors of their counseling and primary care patients' drinking outcomes",
journal="Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy",
year="2013",
author="Elwy, A. Rani and Horton, Nicholas J. and Saitz, Richard",
volume="8",
number="1",
pages="17-17",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Patients' unhealthy alcohol use is often undetected in primary care. Our objective was to examine whether physicians' attitudes and their perceived self-efficacy for screening and counseling patients is associated with physicians' counseling of patients with unhealthy alcohol use, and patients' subsequent drinking. METHODS: This study is a prospective cohort study (nested within a randomized trial) involving 41 primary care physicians and 301 of their patients, all of whom had unhealthy alcohol use. Independent variables were physicians' attitudes toward unhealthy substance use and self-efficacy for screening and counseling. Outcomes were patients' reports of physicians' counseling about unhealthy alcohol use immediately after a physician visit, and patients' drinking six months later. RESULTS: Neither physicians' attitudes nor self-efficacy had any impact on physicians' counseling, but greater perceived self-efficacy in screening, assessing and intervening with patients was associated with more drinking by patients six months later. CONCLUSIONS: Future research needs to further explore the relationship between physicians' attitudes towards unhealthy alcohol use, their self-efficacy for screening and counseling and patients' drinking outcomes, given our unexpected findings.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1747-597X",
doi="10.1186/1747-597X-8-17",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-8-17"
}