Competences of a Graduate of the Bachelor's Study Programme in Addictology: Content Analysis of the Syllabi in the 2018/2019 Academic Year
Abstract
Background | Addictology is a transdisciplinary field dealing with the treatment and prevention of addictions. As yet the field does not have a document describing the competencies of graduates of its dedicated academic programme which would clearly define their professional boundaries and interface with other related disciplines.
Aims | The aim is to specify and better design the competencies of the graduates of bachelor's programmes in addictology on the basis of learning outcomes. Another goal is to improve the formulation of learning outcomes for individual courses constituting the bachelor's degree curriculum.
Methods | The research sample comprises the accreditation files for the bachelor's degree programme in addictology valid from 2011 to 2019 and information about the courses recorded in the Charles University Study Information System, which were subjected to content analysis, and the Q-RAM project methodology was used to reformulate the learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, general competencies). These were subsequently generalized and formulated into competencies.
Results | A list of learning outcomes of the field of addictology was created. The proposed competencies contain nine categories: understanding the phenomenon of addiction and substance abuse, an interdisciplinary approach, the application of a bio-psycho-sociospiritual model, methods of working with the client, the continuum of care, science and research, organizational management, drug policy, and ethics.
The list reflects the generic profile of the graduate and their expertise, ranging from clinical skills through prevention, harm reduction, recovery, and overlaps with other specializations, which goes beyond the standard requirements in foreign competence models. Conclusion | The resulting outputs should be critically analysed and considered as a living document to strengthen the identity of the field and compare it with the requirements of practice.