Differences between groups of family physicians with different attitudes towards at-risk drinkers : a post hoc study of the ODHIN survey in Portugal

Copyright © 2016 Frederico Rosário et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Introduction. We have recently shown that family physicians can be classified into two groups based on their attitudes towards at-risk drinkers: one with better and the other with worse attitudes. Objective. To compare the two groups regarding demographics, alcohol-related clinical practice, knowledge of sensible drinking limits, and barriers and facilitators to working with at-risk drinkers. Methods. A random sample of 234 Portuguese family physicians who answered the Optimizing Delivery of Health Care Interventions survey was included. The questionnaire asked questions on demographics, alcohol-related clinical practice, knowledge of sensible drinking limits, and barriers and facilitators to working with at-risk drinkers. Results. Family physicians with better attitudes were younger (p = 0.005) and less experienced (p = 0.04) and with higher male proportion (p = 0.01). This group had more hours of postgraduate training (p < 0.001), felt more prepared to counsel risky drinkers (p < 0.001), and considered themselves to have better counselling efficacy (p < 0.001). More family physicians in the group with worse attitudes considered that doctors cannot identify risky drinkers without symptoms (p = 0.01) and believed counselling is difficult (p = 0.005). Conclusions. Family physicians with better attitudes had more education on alcohol and fewer barriers to work with at-risk drinkers. These differences should be taken into account when designing implementation programs seeking to increase alcohol screening and brief advice.

The ODHIN project received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under Grant Agreement no. 259268.