Building Therapeutic Commitment in University Nursing Students

Nurses report feeling unprepared to care for people with a substance use disorder (SUD).

The purpose was to determine whether targeted antistigma interventions improved nursing students' attitudes and perceived stigma toward people with SUD.

This was a quasi-experimental, repeated-measures survey study. Participants completed the 20-item Drug and Drug Problems Questionnaire (DDPPQ) and the 8-item Perceived Stigma of Substance Abuse Scale (PSAS) at baseline and postintervention in their first clinical semester. Booster sessions were held for 2 additional clinical semesters after the initial intervention in the first clinical semester. The DDPPQ and PSAS were completed at the end of each semester for 3 semesters of the nursing program.

After the educational interventions, there was a significant improvement in overall therapeutic attitudes except for 1 sub-scale, role-related self-esteem.

Antistigma interventions led to a decrease in stigma and improved overall therapeutic attitudes toward people with SUD.