It is generally recognised that engaging consumers to participate in policy making, programming, and practice is fundamental to effective alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment, however, literature continues to document challenges and barriers to its implementation in AOD settings. This study reports on an evaluation of the Consumer Participation Project implemented in key non-government AOD services in Australia. Data collection consisted of an online survey of 86 staff members at the five participating AOD services and 27 consumer interviews. The survey examined staff attitudes towards and beliefs about consumer participation, perceived current levels of consumer participation and service changes as a result of the consumer participation project. The qualitative arm explored consumer's prior knowledge and current experiences of consumer participation. Staff who took part in the consumer participation training offered as part of the project were more likely to believe that service changes could encourage greater consumer participation rather than any barriers associated with consumer circumstances. Additionally, while services offered low-level involvement consumer activities, there were fewer examples of mid- and high-level activities being conducted at the different services. Consumers discussed the significance of being actively involved in their AOD treatment service while stressing the importance of proper training and support for those engaging in consumer participation. This research highlights the benefits of consumer participation in AOD treatment and suggests that most consumer participation activities undertaken at present are “low” level involvement concerned with providing and receiving information from consumers. Importantly, however, our study did demonstrate some support for “high” level involvement activities and service providers being open to doing more to encourage consumer participation.

中文翻译：

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确定消费者参与澳大利亚酒精和其他药物治疗环境的影响

人们普遍认为，让消费者参与政策制定、规划和实践是有效的酒精和其他药物 (AOD) 治疗的基础，但是，文献继续记录其在 AOD 环境中实施的挑战和障碍。本研究报告了对在澳大利亚主要非政府 AOD 服务中实施的消费者参与项目的评估。数据收集包括对 5 个参与的 AOD 服务的 86 名工作人员的在线调查和 27 次消费者访谈。该调查检查了员工对消费者参与的态度和信念、消费者参与的当前水平以及消费者参与项目导致的服务变化。定性手臂探索消费者 消费者参与的先验知识和当前经验。参加了作为项目一部分提供的消费者参与培训的员工更有可能相信服务变化可以鼓励更多的消费者参与，而不是与消费者环境相关的任何障碍。此外，虽然服务提供了低级别参与的消费者活动，但在不同服务中进行中级和高级活动的例子较少。消费者讨论了积极参与 AOD 治疗服务的重要性，同时强调了对参与消费者参与的人员进行适当培训和支持的重要性。这项研究强调了消费者参与 AOD 治疗的好处，并表明目前开展的大多数消费者参与活动都是“低”水平的参与，涉及提供和接收来自消费者的信息。然而，重要的是，我们的研究确实证明了对“高”水平参与活动的一些支持，并且服务提供商愿意采取更多措施来鼓励消费者参与。