Influence of a Co-Designed Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program on Clinician Attitudes Toward People Who Use AOD: A Quantitative Evaluation.

Abstract

Health professional can hold stigmatising attitudes toward people who use alcohol and other drugs (AOD), affecting therapeutic engagement and health outcomes. Evidence suggests that education can challenge health professionals' bias. However, education is only one strategy, and its impact depends on broader system and organisational factors. Yet AOD education remains limited and rarely incorporates lived-experience perspectives. Co-designed and co-delivered AOD education offers a way to support clinicians to reflect on stigma and strengthen collaborative, person-centred care. This study aimed to assess whether a co-designed AOD education program, delivered by lived experience educators, influenced clinicians' attitudes toward people who use AOD. Using a quantitative, non-randomised pre-post quasi-experimental design, this paper reports quantitative findings from a pre-post survey that captured clinician demographics and attitudes using a modified version of the Australian National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) AOD Attitudinal Brief Scale. Post-education survey results indicated that the education was associated with significant improvements in attitudes, including greater recognition of social and structural influences on substance use and reduced endorsement of personal blame, anger, disappointment, and punitive views (all p < 0.01). Overall, the program contributed to a reduction in stigma and more positive clinician attitudes toward collaborative decision-making with people who use AOD, underscoring the value of embedding lived experience in clinician education.