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American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
4175.0: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Board 9

Abstract #106523

Drug treatment program staff's self efficacy in helping their clients with HCV issues

Shiela M. Strauss, PhD1, Janetta M. Astone-Twerell, PhD1, Corrine E. Munoz-Plaza, MPH1, Don C. Des Jarlais, PhD2, Marya Viorst Gwadz, PhD1, Holly Hagan, PhD1, Andrew Osborne, MS1, and Andrew Rosenblum, PhD1. (1) National Development and Research Institutes, Inc, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (212) 845-4409, shiela.strauss@ndri.org, (2) Beth Israel Medical Center and National Development and Research Institutes, New York, New York, 71 West 23d Street, New York, NY 10010

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection disproportionately impacts drug users, and drug treatment staff are well positioned to counsel clients about HCV and assist them in accessing critical HCV services. Little is currently known, however, about the extent to which staff assist their clients in this way, nor about how confident staff feel in providing this assistance. We therefore developed an 11-item scale to examine staff's self-efficacy in counseling clients about HCV and assisting them with regard to their HCV service needs. For each item, respondents rated their confidence in helping HCV infected clients in particular ways, such as in preparing questions to ask their doctors about HCV infection, and in understanding the importance of decreasing alcohol use. Respondents rated their confidence from 0 to 10 (with 10 being completely confident), and item scores were summed to create a scale score. The scale was administered to a convenience sample (N=61) of drug treatment staff and administrators who were attending a one-day professional conference in New York City. Scores ranged from 43 to 110, with mean, 79 (indicating moderate self efficacy) and standard deviation, 19 (demonstrating considerable variation). The scale was extremely reliable (Cronbach's alpha=.96), and the items loaded on one factor that explained 72% of the scale's variance. Respondents' self efficacy scale scores correlated significantly with their scores on a 36-item HCV knowledge scale (r=.38) and older age (r=.30). Younger staff who have limited HCV knowledge especially need to be assisted in developing their self-efficacy to support clients' HCV service needs.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

Keywords: Health Service, Substance Abuse Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Injection Drug Use: HIV and Hepatitis Poster Session

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA