The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s (IDHW) Drug Overdose Prevention Program (DOPP) partnered with Boise State University’s Idaho Policy Institute (IPI) to evaluate the provider awareness campaign that took place from March 2023 to May 2023. The primary goals of the campaign were to encourage compassionate language when talking to and about patients with substance use disorder (SUD) and to increase screening and treatment of SUD. To evaluate the provider awareness campaign’s reach and effectiveness, IPI conducted a survey of health care providers and health center staff at community health centers (CHCs) and Tribal health centers across Idaho. Some analysis in this technical report compares two groups of survey respondents, a test group whose health center received the provider awareness campaign’s collateral or in-clinic materials and a control whose health centers did not receive the campaign’s collateral materials. The survey assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs surrounding substance use, screening behavior, and prescribing behavior among health care providers within health centers. Key takeaways from this technical report include:
- The provider awareness campaign reached 27.5% of total respondents, including 36.6% of the test group and 20.0% of the control group.
- Online and social media advertisements were the most common places respondents saw the provider awareness campaign materials.
- When asked about the provider awareness campaign’s effectiveness, 55.5% of respondents said the campaign was at least a little effective.
- Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that SUD is a treatable chronic disease and that anyone can develop SUD.
- Approximately half of all respondents believe they have enough training and clinical resources to help patients with SUD.
- A majority of respondents who screen patients for SUD and prescribe medication to treat SUD feel confident in their ability to work with patients with SUD.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ellen-schafer/27/
This report was prepared by Idaho Policy Institute at Boise State University and commissioned by Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
This publication was made possible by 6NU17CE925017-03-02 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services. (Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, 2023.)