MEDICAL, NURSING AND PHARMACY STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOLICS AND ALCOHOLISM IN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Abstract

BACKROUND: Studies have suggested there are differences between helping professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, etc.) in their attitudes towards alcoholics and the nature of alcoholism. Studies have also suggested that there are differences between beginning and more advanced students in attitudes towards alcoholics and that attitudes sometimes become more negative as individuals acquire more education. The PURPOSE of this study was to investigate the attitudes towards alcoholics and alcoholism of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students in Queensland, Australia. Other purposes were to determine possible differences in attitudes between gender, courses of study, educational experiences, and religiosity. METHODS: The Tolor and Tamerin Attitudes Towards Alcoholics and Alcoholism scale was used. It contains 24 questions with six scales. The higher the score on a particular scale the more the individual agrees with the concept. The reliability of the six scales range from 0.62 to 0.77 and they are only minimally related to sex, age, and education of the respondent. RESULTS: The final sample included 791 students, of which 431 were medical, 213 nursing and 147 pharmacy students. In regards to “Gender,” females had the highest scores on “psychological” etiology of alcoholism (p< .01) compared to males. Among pharmacy students, females had significantly higher scores on “psychological etiology” and “humanitarian” scale compared to male pharmacy students. No significant difference on any of the attitude scales due to “Course-of- Study” was found. For “Year in School,” first year students had significantly (p < .05) higher “physical/genetic” and “moral weakness” scores compared to last year students. First year medical students had higher physical/genetic and moral-weakness scores, first year nursing students had higher physical/genetic, and final year pharmacy students had higher psychological scores. For “Importance of Religion” (religiosity) those who were highly religious had significantly (p <.05) higher psychological, physical/genetic and moral weakness scores compared to those who did not consider religion important. Significantly higher scores among medical students for psychological, physical/genetic and moral weakness scales were found for very religious medical students. Very religious pharmacy students had higher psychological and humanitarian scales compared to non-religious students. CONCLUSION: First year students tended to be more negative on several scales which do not support other studies. Very religious students were more likely to believe that alcoholism is caused by physical-genetic and psychological problems. This was also found for very religious medical students. However, very religious students had more negative moralistic attitudes toward alcoholics and alcoholism. It was concluded that medical, nursing and pharmacy students need more education concerning alcoholism