Factors associated with physician recognition and treatment of alcoholism

Abstract

We surveyed internists, family physicians, and psychiatrists regarding their clinical experiences in assessing and treating alcohol abuse, practice characteristics, political and religious beliefs, attitudes toward substance abuse, beliefs about the efficacy of treatment, personal experiences with substance use, and sociodemographic variables. Despite the high prevalence of alcohol abuse, a third of the physicians neither regularly counseled nor referred any patients for outpatient rehabilitation, and more than half had not referred anyone for inpatient treatment. A greater breadth of experience treating alcohol problems was positively correlated with the volume of outpatients and inpatients seen, younger age, more work in primary rather than specialty patient care, less academic work, a stronger belief in the efficacy of treating alcoholism, membership in the Republican party, and a greater religiosity.