Factors Influencing Nurses’ Attitudes towards Patients in Jordanian Addiction Rehabilitation Centres: a Qualitative Study

Abstract

Attitudes of health professionals towards patients with addiction continues to be negative, which is increasingly recognized as a major barrier to the receipt of optimal clinical care by those patients. This study aims to describe nurses’ attitudes and the underlying factors influencing nurses’ attitudes towards patients in two addiction rehabilitation centers in Jordan. Employing a case study design, using ethnographic fieldwork, we collected data from a purposive sample of twenty-one clinical nurses, using semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed for themes derived from the literature. Negative nurses’ attitudes towards “addicted” patients ranged from stigmatization, marginalization, avoidance of patients, to class discrimination. Major socio-cultural factors (honor-gender-shame triad, socialization process, mass media, perceiving addiction as a “hopeless” condition), and other contributory factors played a role in constructing nurses’ negative attitudes. We recommend a nursing curriculum that includes education regarding addiction behavioral patterns, and a continuing education regarding patients’ rights, legal and ethical aspects of nursing care.