Educational Program to Increase Substance Use Disorder Knowledge and Decrease Stigma in First-Year Nursing Students

The opioid epidemic in the United States is changing the population nurses serve. Stigma and bias among healthcare providers towards patients with substance use disorder occurs across disciplines and negatively impacts the care provided to this population. We sought to assess the knowledge and perceptions of first-year nursing students at a large college of nursing towards those with opioid use disorder and to provide an educational intervention with the goals of decreasing bias, increasing substance use disorder knowledge, and increasing the understanding of multi-pronged treatment strategies.

The program consisted of an interactive two-hour presentation based on the disease model of addiction.

First year nursing students from a large urban college were administered a pre- and post-presentation survey designed to evaluate their perceptions towards those with opioid use disorder.

Thematic analysis indicated stigma and bias was present in some first-year nursing students towards those with opioid use disorder. Results from a summary t-test showed a significant increase in the mean scores from pre- to post-test (t = -2.224, df 429, p = .027).

Our project results indicate that knowledge and bias towards those with substance use disorder can be changed with education, which may improve the delivery of healthcare to this vulnerable population.

Since bias and stigma negatively impact care provided by clinicians, presentations such as this one can not only provide education on evidence based practices, but may change the attitudes of future providers, improving the quality of healthcare delivered to this vulnerable population.