Mindfulness-Based Education for Staff Providing Services to Medication-Assisted Treatment Patients

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve provider and staff knowledge, self-efficacy, and beliefs about the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for use with patients enrolled in medication-assisted treatment programs in southern Arizona. Background: In America, one in 12 people will be diagnosed with a substance use disorder at some point in their life. Additionally, overdose deaths from opioids and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are on the rise in Arizona. While there are many treatment options for patients suffering from substance use disorders, including medication-assisted treatment, adjunct treatment options like mindfulness-based interventions are minimally utilized, possibly due to poor perception of their effectiveness. Methods: The Model for Improvement and Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model guided the process of this quality improvement project, which followed a quantitative descriptive design. A pre-survey was electronically distributed to staff members at a rural health clinic in Marana, Arizona, to assess their knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, and use of mindfulness-based interventions, followed by a narrated PowerPoint presentation about the history and benefits of mindfulness-based interventions. Approximately one month later, participants were sent an electronic post-survey to re-assess their knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, and use of mindfulness-based interventions. The target populations in the quality improvement project were primary care providers, behavioral health registered nurses, primary care registered nurses, behavioral health recovery coaches, behavioral health medical assistants, and primary care medical assistants. Results: Data collection took place over one month. Four participants completed the pre-survey, all of which were female. Three participants completed the post-survey. There were decreases seen in knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy. Personal and professional use of mindfulness-used interventions improved from pre-survey to post-survey. Conclusions: Through brief educational interventions about mindfulness-based interventions, improvements in staff providing services to patients in medication-assisted treatment can be accomplished. The intervention in this quality improvement project yielded improvements in the use of personal and professional use of MBIs. With more in-depth interventions, it may be possible to net improvements in other areas to include knowledge, self-efficacy, and attitudes of MBIs.