Predictors of Nurses' and Behavioral Health Professionals' Motivation to Provide Alcohol Use-Related Care: A Secondary Analysis.

Abstract

Background: Alcohol use continues to be a global public health concern that significantly contributes to economic burden and increased morbidity and mortality rates. Healthcare professionals, including nurses and behavioral health professionals, play a vital role in alcohol use prevention, screening, and management. The purpose of this study is to identify nurses' and behavioral health professionals' demographic and clinical characteristics and professional attitudes as predictors of their motivation toward providing care related to alcohol use.

Methods: A secondary analysis employing baseline data pooled across five interventional study cohorts was utilized to build a prediction model. Specifically, to identify the contribution of demographic and clinical characteristics, and professional attitudes in predicting motivation scores relative to alcohol use, a two-step hierarchical multiple linear regression was used.

Results: A total sample of 1,164 undergraduate, graduate, and professional nurses', and behavioral health professionals' baseline data were included in the final analyses. The final model demonstrated that specific demographic and clinical characteristics (age, sex, race, student status, and workplace) and professional attitudes (role legitimacy, task-specific self-esteem, and work satisfaction) significantly predicted nurses' and behavioral health professionals' alcohol use-related motivation ( p < .05). This predictive study revealed that all professional attitudes, except for role adequacy, were significant predictors of nurses' and behavioral health professionals' alcohol use-related motivation, which aligns with previous literature findings.

Conclusion: These findings can inform larger scale intervention studies targeting nurses' and behavioral health professionals' alcohol use-related motivation to promote timely identification and access to care.