The Philippine experience on the ‘basic training course for rehabilitation workers on the assessment and management of drug dependence’, 2013–2016

Abstract

Rehabilitation for persons who use drugs in the Philippines is premised on a multidisciplinary team approach to treatment, where delivery of services is collaboratively undertaken by physicians and rehabilitation practitioners. In 2013, a government-academe-civil society collaborative developed a customized training program for nurses, psychologists, social workers and other personnel involved in rehabilitation work. This 10-day accreditation course covered modules on understanding drug dependence, assessment, management of drug abuse and dependence, and drug rehabilitation work. Participants also had the opportunity to handle cases through a practicum. Between 2013 and 2016, eight training sessions were implemented for 252 rehabilitation practitioners from almost all of the Philippines’ administrative regions. A paired-samples t-test showed that there was a significant difference in the pre-test (24.58 ± 4.08) and post-test scores (30.37 ± 4.66) of participants to the training, t(152) = 16.5949, p = <0.0001.