title: Teaching internal medicine resident physicians about Alcoholics Anonymous: a pilot study of an educational intervention.
abstract: Greater physician confidence in treating alcoholism is associated with a higher frequency of referring alcoholic patients for treatment, but many physicians have limited experience with Alcoholics Anonymous. We implemented a brief, didactic and experiential educational intervention about AA and evaluated its effect on knowledge and attitudes, using a before-after repeated measures study design. Thirty-six first-year internal medicine resident physicians received an educational intervention, which consisted of a 45-minute lecture about AA, a visit to an AA meeting, and a 30-minute debriefing session the next day. Residents' knowledge and attitudes were assessed by a brief written anonymous survey before and after the educational intervention. Residents reported increases in self-perceived knowledge about AA and had more favorable attitudes towards AA after the intervention. Our pilot study shows that a brief, didactic and experiential course can improve physician knowledge and attitudes about AA, and holds promise for improving physician interface with this commonly used intervention.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine &Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center, Boston, MA 02118-2644, USA. adamrose@bu.edu
authors.forename: Adam J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Melissa R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Julia H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Arnsten
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saitz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012017:Referral and Consultation