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Abstract #147700

Shiela M. Strauss, PhD¹, Janetta Astone-Twerell, PhD¹, Corrine E. Munoz-Plaza, MPH¹, Don C. Des Jarlais, PhD², Marya Gwadz, PhD³, Holly Hagan, PhD³, Andrew Osborne, MS⁴, and Andrew Rosenblum, PhD¹. (1) Institute for Treatment Services Research, National Development & Research Institutes, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, 212.845.4409, strauss@ndri.org, (2) Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, 160 Water Street - 24th Floor, New York, NY 10038, (3) Center for Drug Use & HIV Research, National Development & Research Institutes, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (4) Training Institute, National Development & Research Institutes, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010

Drug treatment programs are well situated to provide and support the use of hepatitis C virus (HCV) education and testing services for their patients, and to assist those already infected in dealing with the virus. However, staff's limited knowledge about HCV and their discomfort in sharing HCV information with patients sometimes limits this organizational support. We examined changes in drug treatment program staff's (N=139) perceptions of their organization's collective efficacy to help patients deal with HCV issues after receiving a 6-hour HCV training. Staff in 5 participating (intervention) programs throughout the US received the NIDA-funded, “STOP Hep C” training at baseline; staff in 5 other US programs served as a control group and received the training after data collection was completed. Collective organizational efficacy in supporting patients' HCV needs, especially through effective communication, was measured using a highly reliable (alpha>.9), 7-item, 11-point Likert scale. Items assessed staff's collective ability to discuss HCV with both HCV+ and HCV- patients, answer their questions, and address patients' possible denial and ambivalence in dealing with HCV. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine change in collective efficacy over time (from baseline to 1- and 3-months post-baseline). Results indicate that staff in the intervention programs increased significantly (p<.001) in their perceptions of collective organizational efficacy, but no such change was observed in the control programs (p>.3). Results support the value of an on-site drug treatment program staff training as an effective means to improve organizational efficacy in addressing patients' critical health needs.

Learning Objectives:

• List 5 ways in which drug treatment organizations can help their patients deal with hepatitis C virus (HCV) needs. 2.Describe 2 drug treatment program staff-related obstacles in providing organizational level support to patients regarding HCV infection.
• Discuss how collective organizational efficacy to support drug treatment program patients' HCV needs can be improved as a result of a staff training that provides both current HCV information and skills to effectively communicate this information with patients.

Keywords: Hepatitis C, Substance Abuse Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.