Problematic substance use: an assessment of workplace implications in midwifery

How Workplace Challenges Affect the Risk of Substance Use Disorders in a Health Care Environment

Health care environments have historically faced stressful situations that place those working in those environments at risk for substance use disorders. Over the past several years, the rates of burnout, workplace violence, diverse population stigmatization, and mental health concerns (including suicide) during the Covid-19 pandemic have increased, further challenging and contributing to development of negative coping skills, including use of substances to reduce the side effects and emotions from work. This article introduces the problem of substance use disorders, pathophysiology, and how the challenges contribute to the development of turning to substances to cope.

Predictors of Workplace Substance Reuse among Patients with Alcohol or Illegal Substance Use Disorder in the Workplace

Substance and alcohol use in the workplace have become a global health burden; however, the etiologies have seldom been explored. The aims of this study were to develop a Workplace Substance Reuse Questionnaire (WSRQ) to measure the multidimensional factors associated with the reuse of alcohol or illegal substances in the workplace. The predictors of reuse were also investigated. The WSRQs for alcohol (WSRQ-Alc) and illegal substances (WSRQ-Sub) were composed of 15 and 13 items, respectively. Factors associated with workplace substance reuse included workplace environment, workload, social interaction in the workplace and other cues. Construct validity and reliability were performed to verify the questionnaires. Multivariate linear regression was conducted to estimate the associations between the factors and WSRQ score. A total of 90 patients with substance or alcohol use disorder were recruited. The results demonstrated that the WSRQ-Alc and WSRQ-Sub had acceptable reliability, with variance of 76.4% and 75.4%, respectively. The confirmatory factor analysis fit indices also indicated the adequacy of the model. A longer duration of alcohol use (β = 0.44; p = 0.002) and higher frequencies of changing job (β = 0.32; p = 0.027) and working part time (β = 0.32; p = 0.028) were significantly associated with higher WSRQ-Alc score. Our results highlight the importance of abstinence treatment and job referral for individuals with alcohol or substance use. Further studies are warranted to help extend the applicability and generalizability of the WSRQ.