BACKGROUND :

1. PERCEPTION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ABOUT PRACTICES, PREPARING AND ROLE IN DEALING WITH ALCOHOL AND DRUG RELATED PROBLEMS Lopes, Jane Moraes; Furtado, Erikson FelipeMental Health Post-Graduated Program School of Medicine of RibeirãoPreto, University of São Paulo/ Brazil BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of BI implementation depends on the engagement of the health care team, who experiences difficulties when they are not properly prepared for the task. Occasionally, the professionals do not consider the effectiveness of BI and the possibility of making the implementation. AIM: To characterize health professionals in relation to practice, professional training and attitudes and beliefs in dealing with alcohol and drugs (AD) related problems to of their patients METHODS: • Sample: 88 professionals of primary care from RibeirãoPreto and region, who were trained by Program of Integrated Action for Prevention and Attention to Alcohol and Drug Use in the Community (PAIPAD), from 2003 to 2006, and agreed to participated following ethical procedures • Instruments: individual questionnaire applied before and after of training in Brief Interventions ( from 4 to 6 months later) FINDINGS: - frequency of screening and advice on AD, in health care routine INCREASE - improvement of self-efficacy in advising about AD - awareness that screening AD is not invasive and can be done by AFTER TRAINING primary care professionals, particularly about alcohol NO CHANGE - perception about: “they are very busy with medical problems” “don’t have enough time for the BI” - Alcohol and drug related problems were considered as important as other health problems - Formal questions to obtain information about AD consumption were not included in the routine - The professionals paid more attention to availability of information about referencing patients to specialists - Participants reported that the work is not always gratifying and there are difficulties dealing with users at risk - The professionals believe that users can learn to reduce and control the consumption before having heavy use DISCUSSION: The training offered by PAIPAD was effective. It increased the frequency of preventive practices, promoted the confidence of health professionals regarding their ability to interfere with the patients about the problems related to use of alcohol and drugs. It is suggested further studies on the technical training of health professionals, focused on the exploration of methods to encourage the regular use of standardized instruments for screening and diagnosis of alcohol use. Erikson F. Furtado, MD, DPH, PhD. Psychiatry professor – PAI-PAD´s coordinator FMRP-USP – Depto. Neurologia, Psquiatria e PsicologiaMédica 14049-900 RibeirãoPreto, SP - Brazil E-mail: efurtado@fmrp.usp.br / Homepage: www.fmrp.usp.br Note: If requested the reference list could be provided