Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106523

Shiela M. Strauss, PhD¹, Janetta M. Astone-Twerell, PhD¹, Corrine E. Munoz-Plaza, MPH¹, Don C. Des Jarlais, PhD², Marya Viorst Gwadz, PhD¹, Holly Hagan, PhD¹, Andrew Osborne, MS¹, and Andrew Rosenblum, PhD¹. (1) National Development and Research Institutes, Inc, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (212) 845-4409, shiela.strauss@ndri.org, (2) Beth Israel Medical Center and National Development and Research Institutes, New York, New York, 71 West 23d Street, New York, NY 10010

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection disproportionately impacts drug users, and drug treatment staff are well positioned to counsel clients about HCV and assist them in accessing critical HCV services. Little is currently known, however, about the extent to which staff assist their clients in this way, nor about how confident staff feel in providing this assistance. We therefore developed an 11-item scale to examine staff's self-efficacy in counseling clients about HCV and assisting them with regard to their HCV service needs. For each item, respondents rated their confidence in helping HCV infected clients in particular ways, such as in preparing questions to ask their doctors about HCV infection, and in understanding the importance of decreasing alcohol use. Respondents rated their confidence from 0 to 10 (with 10 being completely confident), and item scores were summed to create a scale score. The scale was administered to a convenience sample (N=61) of drug treatment staff and administrators who were attending a one-day professional conference in New York City. Scores ranged from 43 to 110, with mean, 79 (indicating moderate self efficacy) and standard deviation, 19 (demonstrating considerable variation). The scale was extremely reliable (Cronbach's alpha=.96), and the items loaded on one factor that explained 72% of the scale's variance. Respondents' self efficacy scale scores correlated significantly with their scores on a 36-item HCV knowledge scale (r=.38) and older age (r=.30). Younger staff who have limited HCV knowledge especially need to be assisted in developing their self-efficacy to support clients' HCV service needs.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe the average self-efficacy scale score of drug treatment program staff in assisting their clients with HCV issues;
• Describe the reliability and factor structure of the self-efficacy scale; and
• Describe the significant correlation between the self efficacy scale score and both an HCV knowledge score and older age.

Keywords: Health Service, Substance Abuse Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.