The impact of pluralistic ignorance on the provision of health care for people who inject drugs

Abstract

Health workers who work with people who inject drugs may believe that their colleagues hold less favorable attitudes toward health services for people who inject drugs than themselves-a phenomenon termed pluralistic ignorance. This research explores whether the presumed attitudes of their colleagues, rather than their own attitudes, predict the behavioral intentions of health workers toward people who inject drugs. A total of 57 hospital-based health workers were surveyed to assess their attitudes toward harm reduction services for people who inject drugs and their perceptions of colleagues' attitudes. They then responded to a scenario assessing their likelihood of prescribing opiate-based medication to people who inject drugs. Data illustrate that participants support harm reduction services for people who inject drugs more than they believe their colleagues do, demonstrating pluralistic ignorance. Interestingly, participants' prescription of opiate-based pain medication was predicted by beliefs about their colleagues' support for services for people who inject drugs, rather than their own beliefs.

Ethical Imperatives to Overcome Stigma Against People With Substance Use Disorders

“…People with drug or alcohol use disorders-more than 20 million Americans 2 -are far too often judged, mistreated, and untreated by the very people who aim to help them and who, by regarding SUD not as a chronic illness but as a moral weakness, justify withholding care. 6 Stigma Against People With SUD Addiction is a medical disorder characterized by profound alterations in brain circuitry subjected to repeated substance exposure. 7 More common in people with genetic, environmental, or developmental risk factors, these alterations affect reward processing, which is necessary to motivate and prioritize behaviors; executive function, which is necessary for self-regulation; and mood, which is necessary for well-being.…”

Why Employees Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviour: The Role of Pluralistic Ignorance in Chinese Society

“…In the meantime, pluralistic ignorance is a social phenomenon regarding the most common misperception that occurs when a person has an individual view of him/herself and mistakenly assumes that the overwhelming majority of the group holds the opposite view [19]. Pluralistic ignorance is widely applied to a variety of psychological and social environments concerning risk behaviour, including social projection [20], community values [23], virtual community [26], and drug users [27]. In light of the many research studies on pluralistic ignorance, which have focused on the adaptation of problematic social norms, this study found that pluralistic ignorance in some cases can give rise to the adoption of positive and productive norms in terms of employees' pro-environmental behaviour in the collective spirit of Chinese society.…”

“…Brener et al [27] The study explored whether the hypothetical attitudes of colleagues, rather than their own, predicted health workers' behavioural intentions towards others who inject drugs.…”

Pluralistic Ignorance Research in Psychology: A Scoping Review of Topic and Method Variation and Directions for Future Research

“…When researchers use proportional and/or comparative questioning to measure pluralistic ignorance, they might rely on the other-score as the primary predictor (e.g., Halbesleben, 2009). When researchers use discrete questioning, they might also rely on the other-score (e.g., Flezzani & Benshoff, 2003), or they might rely on other- and self-scores as simultaneous predictors or controls, where appropriate (e.g., Brener et al, 2015). Sometimes, other scores are directly reported by participants, whereas other times they are experimentally manipulated (e.g., Geiger & Swim, 2016).…”