Personal attributes and attitudes to substance use disorder: A study among Jordanian undergraduate medical majors students

Abstract

Background Emerging health professionals in undergraduate programs should be equipped to provide care to people with substance use disorder (SUD). The students’ personal attributes may impact their attitude toward those with SUD. This study aims to evaluate the impact of personal attributes of Jordanian undergraduate health students on their attitudes toward SUD and examine the relationship between the personal attributes and their devaluation and discriminatory (stigmatory) behaviour toward those with SUD. Method A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to examine the attitudes and stigmatory behaviours. The data were collected between May to October 2017 with a structured questionnaire that consisted of three parts: 1) a data sheet to collect the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, 2) the Acute Mental Health Scale (ATAMHS), and 3) the Devaluation-Discrimination Scale (DDS). Findings Younger and females demonstrated a positive attitude toward those with SUD compared to older or male students. Age, gender, and previous experience with SUD are significant factors that affect their attitude. Conclusion Identifying the attitude to people with SUD and personal attributes of emerging health professionals in Jordan will help identify the need to educate them prior to their entry into practice.

Cluster analysis of medical students' attitudes regarding people who use drugs: a first step to design a tailored education program

“…Concerning these in uencing factors, this study explored also new interesting items. Indeed, if the question of age, gender, and experience related to substance use among medical students and doctors had already been studied a little in previous studies [5][6][7]9,[19][20][21] , this study allowed us to compare medical students on different aspects not yet studied, such as their choice of orientation. This makes possible to compare attitudes of all pro les of future specialities and not only a few of them as highlighted before in the literature 6,7 , which to our knowledge has never been explored before, especially less among medical students.…”

“…The literature reports several factors impacting these stigmas in health professionals such as age, gender, personal and professional experiences with SUD [5][6][7]9,19 .…”

Stigma toward healthcare providers from patients during COVID‐19 era in Jordan

“…It is also recommended that changes in procedures or routines are explicitly explained before implementation and that organizational departments work as a team. Besides, healthcare organizations such as hospitals should focus on upholding standards of care for all patients and ensure routine patients received equally quality care (Abuhammad et al., 2022 ). All these should be a component of organizational planning during a pandemic.…”