Qualitative Investigation of Medication for Alcohol Use Disorder

Discussion Tips

Millions of Americans suffer from alcohol use disorder and primary care clinicians appear to underutilize medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD). Beliefs about MAUD effectiveness, safety, and their effectiveness relative to non-medication therapies are potential barriers and facilitators to prescribing MAUD. The authors of this study interviewed physicians who had prescribed MAUD in the last 6 months to explore the reasons behind their decisions to prescribe or not prescribe MAUD.

Discussion Questions

• What question is asked by this study and why does it matter?

• How does this study advance beyond previous research and clinical practice on this topic?

• How strong is the study design for answering the question?

• What type of study is this (qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, etc)?

• Define codebook, saturation, and semistructured interviews

• What is the theory of planned behavior? Is it a reasonable theory for what the authors are studying?

• As discussed in the limitations section, how could using the theory of planned behavior as a theoretical framework lead to overfitting?

• One way to measure the quality (or risk of bias) of a qualitative study is by examining its confirmability. What is confirmability and how did the authors address confirmability concerns?

• What are criterion sampling and sampling for heterogeneity? How did the authors incorporate these sampling methods into their study design?

• When you examine Table 1, are there other participant characteristics that would help you determine this study’s transferability to other settings?

• What are the main study findings?

  • ◦ How do you think previous research about MAUD efficacy¹ influences clinician attitudes about prescribing MAUD?

• What are rules of thumb? How might they positively or negatively impact care?

• What is your judgment about the transportability of the findings?

• What contextual factors are important for interpreting this study’s findings?

• How might this study change your practice? Policy? Education? Research?

• Who is the intended audience for this study, and how might they be engaged in interpreting or using the findings?

• What are the next steps in interpreting or applying this study’s findings?