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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Victoria Osborne, MSW, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, 314.935.6714, vosborne@wustl.edu

Introduction. Although alcohol misuse in women is a major public health concern, research finds that misuse frequently is neither detected nor assessed in primary care settings. The limited existing research in this area concentrates on barriers to assessment and detection in primary care, without focusing on how these barriers interfere with detection. Moreover, this research tends to have a gender-neutral lens. Little is known about the process of assessment and detection, and how it leads to under-detection in female primary care patients. Methods. A convenience sample of primary care physicians participated in an hour-long focus group. Participants were asked to reflect on their personal process around detection of alcohol misuse in their female patients. Focus group data was digitally audiorecorded and transcribed. Themes were identified, and responses coded into each theme. Results . Physicians report facing structural barriers to assessment and detection, including having limited time available to spend with each patient and decreased continuity of care. Emphasis was placed on the importance of establishing trust and some form of relationship between physician and patient. Increasing patient awareness of alcohol misuse, communication between doctor and patient, and continual assessment at follow-up were suggested as the most important ways to facilitate increased detection. Implications for Practice. Future research should focus on interventions that incorporate the issues of establishing trust and communication in the physician-patient relationship, and should explore ways to increase effectiveness and efficiency of assessment practices that work well within given constraints of the modern healthcare practice environment.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to

• identify major barriers to detection of alcohol misuse in women in primary care;
• recognize how primary care physicians detect alcohol misuse in female patients;
• understand reasons why alcohol misuse in women may go undetected in primary care

Keywords: Alcohol Problems, Primary Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered