Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Students’ and Alumni Attitudes toward Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder

Abstract

Background: Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are underutilized, partly due to provider-based stigma. In this cross sectional study, we evaluated the attitudes of psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students’ and alumni associated with opioid use disorder (OUD) and MOUD. Methods: The Perception of Opioid Use Survey and five questions from a subscale of the SUD-C Harm Reduction Training Pre-Training Survey were administered to psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner students and alumni from a large public university. Results: In 52 surveys (55.9% response rate), among students, greater stigma was found with the Social Attitudes subscale (p = .063, Cohen’s d = 0.65) and the SUD-C Harm Reduction Training Pre-Training Survey (p = .054, Cohen’s d = 0.59). Individuals with a personal experience of OUD or with a family member or friend with OUD had higher scores on the Community Impact subscale (r = .26, p = .065). Conclusions: Further research is needed to address the stigma associated with OUD and MOUD and to increase access to evidence-based treatment.