The Impact of an Educational Program on Enhancing Knowledge towards Drug Addiction among Health Care Providers in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Drug addiction is a major preventable and treatable problem. One important way of reducing drug abuse is through provision of effective and accurate information about drug addiction to health care providers (HCPs) to enable them to detect suspected cases earlier and provide them with the help they need. This study aimed to assess health care providers᾽ knowledge related to drug addiction and availability of related national health services and the impact of an educational program intervention on the perceived knowledge. An interventional longitudinal study was conducted in Saudi Arabia between 10 Dec. 2017 and 4 Jan. 2018. The study included 383 participants HCPs aged 20-60 years old. They were randomly selected using a stratified sampling technique out of 143,517 HCPs who attended an educational program organized by the General Directorate for Clinical Education, Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the National Committee for Narcotics Control. A pre-designed questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants before and after attending the program. The study recorded a relatively good baseline level of knowledge about drug addiction among participating HCPs (average knowledge score 9.54±3.7 out of 13) with no significant difference between genders, occupations or education levels. At the same time, the study reported a fair level of knowledge regarding available national health services for drug addiction (Nebras). After the educational program, the drug addiction knowledge score improved from 9.54±3.7 to 11.15±2.9 with a statistically significant difference (mean difference 2.7±1.3, t=2.83, P=.01). Morover, the knowledge score about the available national service (Nebras) showed also a statistically significant improvement (mean difference 54.1±15.6, range: 7-93, P=.00). Although many HCPs lack formal training regarding drug addiction, providing them with a short educational intervention can be effective, and has the potential to improve service utilization.

Keywords

• drug addiction
• educational program
• health care providers
• knowledge
• saudi arabia