Stigma of Opioid Use Disorder and Its Indirect Effects on Student Pharmacists’ Perceptions and Attitudes

Abstract

Objectives: Pharmacists play a vital role in serving patients during the ongoing nationwide opioid epidemic, and so it is also critical to educate the next generation of pharmacists on opioids and opioid use disorder (OUD). The primary objective of this study was to quantitatively characterize student perceptions of opioid use and the stigma associated with OUD. Secondary aims were to determine whether differences in perceptions exist based upon the student’s year in the Doctor of Pharmacy program or employment in a community pharmacy. Methods: First-, second-, third-, and fourth-year student pharmacists voluntarily completed an electronic survey regarding perceptions of opioid use and stigma associated with OUD. Results: Of the 9 survey items, students were most uncomfortable referring patients to community resources for addiction support and/or treatment (25.3% comfortable or very comfortable). Students working in a community pharmacy were significantly more comfortable talking to patients attempting to refill opioids early and providing opioid counseling as compared to their peers not working in community pharmacy. Fourth-year students reported a higher level of comfort talking to a patient attempting to refill an opioid prescription early, counseling a patient on an opioid prescription, and providing information about alternatives to opioids. Third-year students responded most favorably to the items regarding how well the curriculum has prepared them to interact with patients taking opioids and those with OUD. Conclusions: These findings reveal that students are comfortable counseling on opioids and discussing alternative options. Differences in perceptions were observed based upon the student’s year in the program and whether or not they were employed in a community pharmacy setting.

Opioid Use Disorder Stigma Reduction Through Story Telling Narrative and Sharing: a Qualitative Review and Lessons Learned

“…Previous studies utilizing similar qualitative methods have been employed to identify perceptions and experiences of stigma within clinical settings such as nursing students (Lewis & Jarvis, 2019) and pharmacy students (Hall, et al, 2020) or by individuals with substance use experience and medication-assisted treatment patients (Earnshaw et al, 2019;Hall, et al, 2021). However, using qualitative studies to identify stigma-reduction strategies by individuals with lived experience of substance use is limited, and the few available studies have primarily focused on medication-assisted treatment stigma reduction (Woo et al, 2017).…”

Community Pharmacists’ Knowledge and Attitude Towards Opioid Pain Medication Use in Bahir Dar City, North-West Ethiopia

“…24 Another cohort survey conducted at the University of Tennessee on pharmacy students did not seem to reveal stigmatizing attitudes towards the opioid-seeking behaviors of patients or classmates. 25 This difference might be attributable to setting differences between the two studies and the current study. On the contrary, a study done by Werremeyer et al demonstrated pharmacists' higher preference for social distancing (negative attitude) towards patients with opioid misuse behaviors.…”

Pharmacy Students’ Perceptions and Stigma Surrounding Naloxone Use in Patients with Opioid Use Disorder: A Mixed Methods Evaluation

“…An 18-item survey was delivered electronically as previously published [ 15 ] in accordance to methodology derived from Dillman and colleagues [ 16 ]; seven closed-ended questions from this original survey item pertained to perceptions of naloxone use that have not been published previously ( Supplementary Materials ). All data were aggregated such that no personal information linking specific responses to a specific participant was retained.…”