IADR Abstract Archives

Delivering Alcohol Advice in Dentistry - Where to Start?

Excessive alcohol consumption is a significant public health problem in Scotland. Alcohol screening and brief intervention is an effective method for moderating alcohol consumption. General dental practitioners (GDPs) are in a position to deliver alcohol related health advice under the umbrella of oral cancer risk factor discussion, however they do not universally do so. There would appear to be scope to improve the delivery of alcohol related advice (AA) by GDPs. There is a strong evidence base supporting the use of behaviour change theory in the development of interventions to encourage healthcare professionals to adopt new behaviours.

Aim: To inform the development of an evidence-based, practical and theoretically grounded intervention to stimulate GDPs to deliver alcohol related health advice in primary care.

Method: Cross-sectional postal survey of a random sample of 300 GDPs in Scotland assessed beliefs derived from psychological models that explain behaviour in terms of beliefs that are amenable to change.

Results: Sixty percent of GDPs responded. Variables of attitude (perceived consequences), control beliefs (perceived difficulty), subjective norm (perceived social pressure), and self-efficacy (confidence) all predicted intention to provide AA.

Exploratory stepwise multiple regression analysis identified 5 individual questionnaire items that explained 41% of the variance in intention to provide advice. Those items included whether respondents believe that; AA is practical, AA is beneficial to patients, providing AA is not embarrassing, GDPs felt under pressure to provide advice from their colleagues, and GDPs are confident to provide alcohol related written information to patients.

Conclusions: This study identified predictive beliefs which may act as potential targets for an intervention aiming to encourage this behaviour. The next phase is to utilize those belief items in combination with directed behaviour change techniques to develop an intervention to encourage GDPs to provide AA.


British Division Meeting
2011 British Division Meeting (Sheffield, England)
Sheffield, England
2011
5
Scientific Groups
  • Shepherd, Simon  ( University of Dundee, Dundee, N/A, United Kingdom )
  • Clarkson, Janet  ( University of Dundee Dental School, Dundee, N/A, Scotland, Uk )
  • Ogden, Graham  ( Dundee Dental Hospital & School, Dundee, N/A, Scotland, Uk )
  • Young, Linda  ( Manager Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme, Dundee, N/A, United Kingdom )
  • Bonetti, Debbie  ( University of Dundee, Dundee, N/A, United Kingdom )
    • Poster Session
    Posters: Tuesday
    09/13/2011