Predicting Nurses' Views on Decriminalization of Psychedelics

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Psychiatry
• Public Health

Background:

• Nurses are a large healthcare sector with potential to advance psychedelics in healthcare.
• Nurses' views on psychedelics and legal changes are largely unknown.
• Understanding these views is crucial for integrating psychedelics into healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify an optimal predictive model for nurses' support of psychedelic decriminalization.
• To understand factors influencing nurses' attitudes toward psychedelics.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of e-survey data from 1092 registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses in Minnesota.
• Multinomial logistic regression with backward selection (AIC) was used to develop a predictive model.
• Model performance was assessed using multiclass area under the curve (AUC).

Main Results:

• Key predictors of support for psychedelic decriminalization included age, gender identity, spiritual orientation, awareness of Colorado's laws, and attitudes toward psychedelic effects and legality.
• The final model showed excellent discriminative ability (AUC = 0.870).
• Discrimination between supporters and opponents was outstanding (AUC = 0.973).

Conclusions:

• Age, awareness of decriminalization laws, and attitudes toward psychedelic effects/legality predict nurses' support for psychedelics.
• This model informs understanding of nurses' perspectives and guides development of educational resources on psychedelics for nurses.
• Findings have implications for healthcare policy and professional development nationwide.