Understanding families impacted by opioid use: Outcomes of a therapist training program.

Introduction: Increasing the substance use workforce is vital in addressing the many complexities of opioid use among families. The purpose of the present research was to examine 6-month outcomes of a training program focusing on opioid use among families, for master-level family therapy (MFT) and community mental health counseling (CMHC) students.

Method: In total, 58 students participated in self-reported survey assessments at baseline and 6-month follow-up across the following domains: attitudes about substance use, interpersonal professional collaboration, trainee confidence, professional quality of life, and cross-cultural counseling competence.

Results: The study results indicated a significant improvement between scores on attitudes of working with families impacted by substance use disorders from baseline to follow-up. There was a significant positive change in cross-cultural competency, interprofessional competency, and trainee confidence from baseline to follow-up.

Discussion: The findings contribute to extant literature by examining the potential role of participating in substance use training for graduate-level MFT and CMHC trainees and considerations for implementing specific substance use training components among graduate-level trainees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).