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Background: Research demonstrates that individuals facing unaddressed substance use disorders (SUD) can experience many difficult challenges. Accordingly, it is critical that social workers are prepared to identify and serve those at risk for SUD. At one southeastern public university, an SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) training program was implemented to train MSW students to assess for substance use and successfully perform a brief negotiated interview (BNI). Little is known, however, about factors that predict successful performance of the BNI. This study addressed this gap, and specifically examined whether pre-knowledge, experience, and confidence predicted a student’s BNI performance. We hypothesized that all of these factors would significantly predict BNI performance.
Methods/Methodology: This was part of a broader research study that utilized a pre/post design. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 214 MSW students who completed a five module online SBIRT curriculum. Participants completed a pre-training survey that assessed knowledge (SBIRT intervention and self-rated importance of discussing client alcohol or other drug (AOD) use), experience (prior experience with AOD, formal AOD training, hours of training in motivational interviewing, and previous completion of SBIRT training), and confidence (perceived confidence in ability to discuss a client’s substance use pattern) and also asked for demographic information (e.g., age). Upon completion of the online training modules, students were required to demonstrate mastery in performing the BNI through role play in which they were assessed for their compliance with the evidence-based BNI steps by trained project staff. Students who did not pass were required to attempt additional demonstrations until they passed. A Poisson analysis was performed to examine if student pre-knowledge, experience, and confidence were statistically significant predictors of the number of observation attempts needed by participants to successfully demonstrate the BNI steps.
Results: Overall, 88% of participants passed the SBIRT demonstration at the first attempt, 7% passed at the second attempt, and 3% passed at the third attempt. Results of the Poisson analysis indicated that none of the predictor variables yielded Wald statistics that were statistically significant.
Conclusion and Implications: The findings suggest that students’ prior knowledge, confidence, and experience were not significant predictors of the number of attempts required to demonstrate success in conducting the BNI. This was surprising, however it does suggest that the variability in the number of observations needed to successfully demonstrate the BNI may be explained by other factors that pertain to the current learning environment of the student. Further research to uncover these factors is needed in order to properly prepare social work students to assist clients with SUD.