Effectiveness of Clinical Practicum Experience in Drug Addiction Treatment Facilities in Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward Alcohol, Alcohol Use Disorders, and Alcoholics: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abstract: The aim of this study was to identify, analyze, and synthesize the best evidence on the effectiveness of clinical practicum experience in drug addiction treatment facilities on nursing students' attitudes toward alcohol, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and persons with AUD. This systematic review followed the recommendations of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and used the System for the Unified Management of the Assessment and Review of Information to assess methodological quality and extract data for meta-analysis. A comprehensive literature search of the EBSCO databases, Embase, PubMed, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Mednar, Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses catalog was conducted. The System for the Unified Management of the Assessment and Review of Information tool was used for the extraction and critical evaluation of the selected articles followed by a meta-analysis. After removing duplicates, 2,831 publications were identified, and eight met the inclusion criteria. More positive attitudes were observed after performing practicum experience in specialized services (-1.27, 95% confidence interval [-2.85, -0.30]), and an increase in the motivation and satisfaction among the students to care for patients with AUD was also noted. In conclusion, the review suggests that clinical practicum experience in a drug addiction treatment facility has the potential to change the attitudes of nursing students toward AUD and persons with AUD.