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Attitudes Towards Evidence-Based Practice in Substance Use Treatment Programs Serving American Indian Native Communities

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Abstract

The objective of this paper was to compare attitudes towards evidence-based practice (EBP) of substance use disorder treatment (SUDT) center employees’ serving American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) populations to those serving non-AIAN populations. Survey data on the openness and divergence subscales of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) were collected and analyzed. Independent samples T tests were performed to compare the two samples. For all comparisons, except the divergence subscale between counselors, the SUDT employees serving AIANs had significantly lower mean openness scores and higher mean divergence scores than those serving non-AIANs. This study suggests that employees of SUDT centers serving AIAN population hold less positive attitudes towards the adoption and use of EBP than non-AIAN.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the communities, agencies, supervisors, and service providers that made these studies possible.

Funding

The AI/AN data collection was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA022239) and the non-AI/AN data by National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH098124, R21MH082731, R01MH072961, and R01MH092950), and National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA038466).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Joanna C. Moullin PhD

  2. Child and Adolescent Research Centre, San Diego, USA

    Joanna C. Moullin PhD & Gregory A. Aarons PhD

  3. Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    Laurie A. Moore MPH & Douglas K. Novins MD

  4. University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Gregory A. Aarons PhD

Authors
  1. Joanna C. Moullin PhD
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  2. Laurie A. Moore MPH
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  3. Douglas K. Novins MD
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  4. Gregory A. Aarons PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joanna C. Moullin PhD.

Ethics declarations

The AI/AN study was approved by the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board and the Oregon Health and Science University’s Institutional Review Board. The Indian Health Service Institutional Review Board (IHS-IRB) classified the study as not human subjects’ research. The non-AI/AN study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of San Diego State University.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Moullin, J.C., Moore, L.A., Novins, D.K. et al. Attitudes Towards Evidence-Based Practice in Substance Use Treatment Programs Serving American Indian Native Communities. J Behav Health Serv Res 46, 509–520 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-018-9643-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-018-9643-6

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