Changing Advanced Practice Nursing Students' Attitudes, Perceptions, and Stigma Through Substance Use Enhanced Core...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Addiction Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Stigma surrounding substance use disorders (SUD) deters individuals from seeking essential healthcare services.
• Healthcare providers, including nurses, sometimes exhibit stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors toward patients with SUDs.
• Integrating SUD content into advanced practice nursing curricula may mitigate stigma and improve patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess advanced practice nursing students' attitudes and stigma perceptions regarding the care of individuals with alcohol and drug use.
• To explore the impact of enhanced substance use-related content within core nursing courses on student attitudes.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory descriptive study utilizing online surveys.
• Data collected from advanced practice nursing students before and after participating in core "3P" courses (Physical Assessment, Pathophysiology, Pharmacotherapy) with infused SUD content.
• Validated questionnaires measured substance use-related attitudes, perceptions, and stigma.

Main Results:

• Eleven students completed the baseline survey, and 12 completed the postcourse survey.
• While direct statistical comparison was limited, students' postcourse responses indicated more positive attitudes toward individuals with SUD.
• The enhanced coursework appeared to foster more favorable perceptions regarding substance use and related problems.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced "3P" nursing courses show potential for improving student attitudes toward patients with SUDs.
• The findings suggest that curriculum integration can be an effective strategy to combat stigma in healthcare settings.
• Further research employing rigorous pre-post or longitudinal designs is recommended to validate these promising results.