TY - JOUR
T1 - Keeping clients connected
T2 - exploring Australian alcohol and other drug clinicians’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to treatment attendance
AU - Rubenis, Adam J.
AU - Barnett, Anthony I.
AU - Arunogiri, Shalini
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024/3/3
Y1 - 2024/3/3
N2 - Substance use contributes to significant individual and social harms. Although psychosocial treatment is effective, early treatment discontinuation is common. Despite this, exploration of clinicians’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to attendance has been limited in scope (e.g. specialized settings, written responses). The current study used an in-depth approach to explore the views of clinicians on barriers and facilitators to attendance in psychosocial alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment, with a view to translating these views to clinical practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with AOD clinicians from a range of professional backgrounds (n = 15: 7 female; 8 male) working in treatment settings in Australia. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview content. Themes relating to attendance included client-related factors (motivation, expectations, beliefs; complexity, access, level of support), clinician-related factors (therapeutic relationship), organizational and systemic factors (individual service factors; systemic/sector wide factors), and stigma (experienced across clinician-related, organization and systemic domains). A complex combination of practical, psychosocial, and systemic/organizational factors intersect with, and influence, client attendance. These findings speak to the importance of client-centered and flexible approaches from clinicians and organizations. Such approaches might simultaneously mitigate a key barrier to attendance: stigma. This study highlights the impact of the therapeutic relationship on attendance despite organizational and funding constraints.
AB - Substance use contributes to significant individual and social harms. Although psychosocial treatment is effective, early treatment discontinuation is common. Despite this, exploration of clinicians’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to attendance has been limited in scope (e.g. specialized settings, written responses). The current study used an in-depth approach to explore the views of clinicians on barriers and facilitators to attendance in psychosocial alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment, with a view to translating these views to clinical practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with AOD clinicians from a range of professional backgrounds (n = 15: 7 female; 8 male) working in treatment settings in Australia. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview content. Themes relating to attendance included client-related factors (motivation, expectations, beliefs; complexity, access, level of support), clinician-related factors (therapeutic relationship), organizational and systemic factors (individual service factors; systemic/sector wide factors), and stigma (experienced across clinician-related, organization and systemic domains). A complex combination of practical, psychosocial, and systemic/organizational factors intersect with, and influence, client attendance. These findings speak to the importance of client-centered and flexible approaches from clinicians and organizations. Such approaches might simultaneously mitigate a key barrier to attendance: stigma. This study highlights the impact of the therapeutic relationship on attendance despite organizational and funding constraints.
KW - Alcohol and other drug use
KW - primary care
KW - qualitative research
KW - recovery
KW - substance use disorder
KW - treatment retention
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162962549&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/16066359.2023.2227092
DO - 10.1080/16066359.2023.2227092
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85162962549
SN - 1606-6359
VL - 32
SP - 120
EP - 128
JO - Addiction Research & Theory
JF - Addiction Research & Theory
IS - 2
ER -