A prática da assistência, pesquisa e ensino em enfermagem tem proporcionado o acúmulo de considerável experiência sobre o cuidado ao paciente com problemas relacionados ao uso do álcool. Essa experiência tem mostrado que existe entre os profissionais de enfermagem em geral grande necessidade de aquisição de conhecimentos teóricos que propiciem a revisão dos modelos ou protocolos informais que embasam a prática nessa área. Este artigo tem como objetivo realizar breve revisão de literatura, que visa apresentar registro dos principais modelos teóricos existentes na literatura especializada explicativo do fenômeno do uso do álcool e drogas. Concluímos que, através do conhecimento dos modelos explicativos, o enfermeiro pode buscar meios que facilitem sua prática de acordo com as necessidades da demanda de saúde.

This qualitative study aimed to learn the conceptions and attitude tendencies of nurses from public district basic health units towards alcohol, alcoholism and alcohol addicts. The sample consisted of ten nurses from three institutions in a city located in São Paulo. Data were recorded and submitted to content thematic analysis. Subjects evidenced that these nurses are permissive towards moderate alcohol use, but reject alcoholism, conceiving it as a potentially fatal disease, and tend to associate it to personal will, indicating the influence of the moral concept on their conceptions and attitudes. The participating nurses' knowledge about the topics alcohol and alcoholism was also evidenced. Based on the results, the authors suggest training this group and preparing these professionals for the care, recognition and prevention of disorders related to alcohol use/abuse at these health centers.

The objective of this study was the construction and validation of a scale that would measure the attitudes towards alcohol, alcoholism and the alcoholic, called the Scale of Attitudes Towards Alcohol, Alcoholism and the Alcoholic. The face and content validations, as well as the factor analysis of the data obtained in a preliminary test with 144 nursing students resulted in a scale consisting of 96 items, divided into 5 factors: Attitudes towards the alcoholic person: care and interpersonal relations; Etiology; Disease; Repercussions deriving from alcohol use/abuse; Alcoholic beverages. The general scale presented a consistency level of 0.90. The resulting instrument is concluded to be a reliable tool to evaluate attitudes towards alcohol, alcoholism and alcohol addicts.