Attitudes about Addiction: A National Study of Addiction Educators

Abstract

The following study, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), utilized the Addiction Belief Inventory (ABI; Luke, Ribisl, Walton, & Davidson, 2002) to examine addiction attitudes in a national sample of U.S. college/university faculty teaching addiction-specific courses (n = 215). Results suggest that addiction educators view substance abuse as a coping mechanism rather than a moral failure, and are ambivalent about calling substance abuse or addiction a disease. Most do not support individual efficacy toward recovery, the ability to control use, or social use after treatment. Modifiers of addiction educator attitudes include level of college education; teaching experience; licensure/certification, and whether the educator is an addiction researcher. Study implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bryan

L. A.

Atwater

M. M.

(2002). Teacher beliefs and cultural models: A challenge for science teacher preparation programs. Science Education, 86(6), 821–839.

Caplehorn

J. R. M.

Irwig

Saunders

J. B.

(1996a). Attitudes and beliefs of staff working in methadone maintenance clinics. Substance Use & Misuse, 31(4), 437–452.

Caplehorn

J. R. M.

Irwig

Saunders

J. B.

(1996b). Physicians' attitudes and retention of patients in their methadone maintenance programs. Substance Use & Misuse, 31(6), 663–677.

Curran

J. M.

Rosen

D. E.

(2006). Student attitudes toward college courses: An examination of influences and intentions. Journal of Marketing Education, 28(2), 135–148.

Eagly

A. H.

Chaiken

(Eds.). (1993). The nature of attitudes. The psychology of attitudes (pp. 1–21). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group/Thomson Learning, Inc.

Fisher

G. L.

(2006). Rethinking our war on drugs: Candid talk about controversial issues. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Gal

Ginsberg

(1994). Learning statistics: Towards an assessment framework. Journal of Statistics Education, 2(2). Retrieved on May 26, 2009, from http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v2n2/gal.html

Gebelein

R. S.

(2000, May). The rebirth of rehabilitation: Promise and perils of drug courts. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Sentencing & Corrections: Issues for the 21st Century. Retrieved on July 21, 2007, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181412.pdf

Gibeaut

(1997). Sobering thought. American Bar Association Journal, 83(5), 56–62.

10.

Goldkamp

(1995). The drug court movement. U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice Update, 184392. Retrieved on July 20, 2007, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/drgctmov.pdf

11.

Hser

Teruya

Brown

A. H.

Huang

Evans

Anglin

M. D.

(2007). Impact of California's proposition 36 on the drug treatment system: Treatment capacity and displacement. American Journal of Public Health, 97(1), 104–109.

12.

Lammers

W. J.

Smith

S. M.

(2008). Learning factors in the university classroom: Faculty and student perspectives. Teach of Psychology, 35, 61–70.

13.

Lee

R. D.

Rasinski

K. A.

(2006). Five grams of coke: Racism, moralism and White public opinion on sanctions for first time possession. International Journal of Drug Policy, 17, 183–191.

14.

Leshner

A. I.

(1997). Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters. Science, 278, 45–47.

15.

Luke

D. A.

Ribisl

K. M.

Walton

M. A.

Davidson

W. S.

(2002). Assessing the diversity of personal beliefs about addiction: Development of the addiction belief inventory. Substance Use & Misuse, 37(1), 89–120.

16.

Luoma

J. B.

Twohig

M. P.

Waltz

Hayes

S. C.

Roget

Padilla

(2007). An investigation of stigma in individuals receiving treatment for substance abuse. Addictive Behaviors, 32(7), 1331–1346.

17.

Meza

E. E.

Cunningham

J. A.

el-Guebaly

Couper

(2001). Alcoholism: Beliefs and attitudes among Canadian alcoholism treatment practitioners. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 46(2), 167–172.

18.

Moyers

T. B.

Miller

W. R.

(1993). Therapists' conceptualizations of alcoholism: Measurement and implications for treatment decisions. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 7(4), 238–245.

19.

National Drug Control Strategy FY 2009 Budget Summary. (2008). Office of National Drug Control Policy. Retrieved on September 1, 2009, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/41/b2/b2.pdf

20.

Patrick

B. C.

Hisley

Kempler

(2000). ‘What's everybody so excited about?’: The effects of teacher enthusiasm on student intrinsic motivation and vitality. Journal of Experimental Education, 68(3), 217–236.

21.

Peele

(1998). The results for drug reform goals of shifting from interdiction/punishment to treatment. International Journal of Drug Policy, 9, 43–56.

22.

Perkins

K. K.

Adams

W. K.

Pollock

S. J.

Finkelstein

N. D.

Wieman

C. E.

(2005). Correlating student beliefs with student learning using the Colorado learning attitudes about science survey. AIP Conference Proceedings, 790(1), 61–64.

23.

Schomerus

Matschinger

Angermeyer

M. C.

(2006). Alcoholism: Illness beliefs and resource allocation preferences of the public. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 82, 204–210.

24.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2009). Results from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-36, HHS Publication No. SMA 09-4434). Rockville, MD. Retrieved on June 3, 2010 from http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8nsduh/2k8Results.cfm#7.3

25.

Sweitzer

B. G.

(1997). Implicit redefinitions, evidentiary proscriptions, and guilty minds: Intoxicated wrongdoers after Montana v. Eglehoff. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 146(1), 269–321.

26.

Trafimow

(1996). The importance of attitudes in the prediction of college students' intentions to drink. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26(24), 2167–2188.

27.

Weber

(2004). Traditional instruction in advanced mathematics courses: A case study of one professor's lectures and proofs in an introductory real analysis course. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 23, 115–133.

28.

Wilkins

J. L. M.

(2008). The relationship among elementary teachers' content knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 11, 139–164.