Screening and brief interventions for substance use in emergency departments in the Western Cape province of South Africa: views of health care professionals
Abstract
As part of the formative phase of screening and brief interventions (SBIs) for substance use amongst patients presenting for emergency services in South Africa, the present study explored health care providers' attitudes and perceptions towards SBI. Twenty-four health care providers working in two 24-hour emergency departments (EDs) were interviewed using an open-ended semi-structured interview schedule designed to identify factors that may hinder or promote the implementation of SBI for substance use in these settings. All respondents felt that screening patients for substance use in EDs is possible; however, they emphasised the need for an additional staff member dedicated to these activities. Secondly, they felt this dedicated individual should meet certain educational criteria and be from a specific socio-demographic background in order to increase the likelihood of intervention uptake. Thirdly, a number of patient- and clinic-level barriers were revealed that could potentially hinder the successful implementation of SBIs in EDs.
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Barriers to BI implementation in an emergency department setting included aggressive patients, lack of private space within the emergency department, and severely injured patients.
“Barriers to BI implementation in an emergency department setting included: aggressive patients, lack of private space within the emergency department, severely injured patients [107].”
From A scoping review of substance use brief interventions in Africa (2024) · cites this paper as [107]
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- Authors
- Sorsdahl, K., Myers, B., Ward, C., Matzopoulos, R., Mtukushe, B., Nicol, A., & Stein, D. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- Western Cape Department of Health (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Sorsdahl, Katherine
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-07-09
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 236-243
- ISSN
- 1745-7300 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-7319
- OpenAlex
- W2081115474
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency and Acute Care Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Keywords
- screening and brief intervention, substance use, emergency department, clinician attitudes, implementation barriers, employee training, Western Cape
- MeSH terms
- Attitude of Health Personnel, Emergency Service, Hospital, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Personnel, Hospital, South Africa, Substance-Related Disorders
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