The impact of national drug policies on the acceptability and availability of non-abstinent treatment interventions among clinical social workers in the United States

This paper is authored by Drug Enforcement and Policy Center DEPC 2019–20 Drug Policy Grant recipients Alan K. Davis, PhD, Assistant Professor and Yitong Xin, MBA, MSW, PhD candidate, College of Social Work, The Ohio State University.

Given that social workers comprise a large proportion of providers in the SUD treatment field, they are in prime positions to provide non-abstinence interventions and to advocate for changes in SUD treatment agencies’ practices and national/local drug policies. However, it is unclear to what extent social workers’ training, and their attitudes and beliefs about drug use, have been affected by national drug policies and whether their beliefs have influenced their willingness to provide non-abstinence interventions or advocate for changes to these policies. This project aims to use an internet-based survey to gain a better understanding of the attitudes and beliefs among social workers to help inform educational and training needs in the social work profession and help support short- and long-term changes in treatment settings. Data from this study will be used as pilot data for a larger grant submission that aims to develop a training/education intervention to help social workers understand the influence of national drug policies on clinical practices and to address this influence in learning the skills needed to use non-abstinence interventions in SUD treatment.