title: German medical students' beliefs about how best to treat alcohol use disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A minority of German medical students believe they know how to support smokers willing to quit. This paper examined whether the same would be true for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD), and individual factors associated with incorrect beliefs about the effectiveness of methods to treat AUD.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 19,526 undergraduate students from 27 German medical schools completed a survey addressing beliefs about the effectiveness of different methods of overcoming AUD. Beliefs about AUD treatment effectiveness were compared across the 5 years of undergraduate education and predictors identified by means of multiple linear regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Even in the fifth year, 28.1% (95% CI: 26.5-29.7) of students believed that willpower alone was more effective for overcoming AUD than a comprehensive treatment program. The only significant predictor of this belief was a similar belief for stopping smoking.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that a considerable proportion of German medical students overestimate the effectiveness of willpower to treat smoking and AUD. The addictive nature of these disorders needs to be stressed during undergraduate medical education to ensure that future physicians will be able and motivated to support patients in their quit attempts.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Campus Virchow Klinikum and Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Henning
authors: H
authors: Krampe
authors: Lisa
authors: L
authors: Strobel
authors: Emma
authors: E
authors: Beard
authors: Sven
authors: S
authors: Anders
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: West
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Raupach
mesh_terms: D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome