The improvement of general practioners’ approaches to the patients with alcohol related problems: a randomized controlled educational trial

Excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems are significant public health problems worldwide. It is aimed to assess the primary health care working general practioners? knowledge, attitude and behavior related to the detection of risky alcohol use and brief intervention and to investigate the effect of education on these aspects. General practioners working in the Konak (KGSB) region (n=226) were separated into intervention and control groups with 1:2 ratio and randomized according to the health centers. Sixty two general practioners participated in the intervention group and 73 in the control group. One hour didactic lecture + a video example of brief intervention + skills training with role playing + intervention materials (physician education booklet + patient self-help brochures + Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) + follow-up forms) were provided to intervention group. Control group had didactic lecture only. Participants answered a questionnaire related to knowledge, attitude and behavior before the implementation of the programme. The same questionnaire was applied at the end of the education sessions and at the 2.5 month follow-up. General practioners did not have enough knowledge concerning the risky alcohol use levels, screening tests and biochemical markers. Pre-intervention knowledge, attitude and behavior scores were similar between groups. A significant increase was observed in knowledge post-intervention scores in advantage of control group. In spite of the decrease in knowledge scores at the 2.5 month follow-up, a significant increase related to pre-intervention scores was established. No significant difference was observed in attitude and behavior scores. Some improvement in knowledge had been provided by the education programme.