Healthcare Professional Students’ Perspectives on Substance Use Disorders and Stigma: A Qualitative Study

Alina Cernasev, Kiki M. Kline, Rachel Elizabeth Barenie, Kenneth C. Hohmeier, Steven Stewart and Shandra S. Forrest-Bank
Additional contact information
Alina Cernasev: College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 301 S. Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 220, Nashville, TN 37211, USA
Kiki M. Kline: College of Social Work, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Rachel Elizabeth Barenie: College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
Kenneth C. Hohmeier: College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 301 S. Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 220, Nashville, TN 37211, USA
Steven Stewart: College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 301 S. Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 220, Nashville, TN 37211, USA
Shandra S. Forrest-Bank: Director of the Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS), College of Social Work, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Access to and quality of care for Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) remain a major public health issue. Stigma associated with SUDs contributes to the gap between the number of patients who need treatment and the much smaller fraction that receive it. Healthcare professional students are future care providers; an opportunity exists to characterize their collective perspectives on patients with SUDs and how that informs the care they provide. Methods: Healthcare professional students participated in online, semi-structured focus group (FGs) between March and April 2021. The FGs were conducted until thematic saturation was achieved. All verbatim transcripts were analyzed applying Thematic Analysis using Dedoose ® qualitative software. Inductive codes were grouped into categories based on similarities that facilitated the emergence of themes. Results: Thematic Analysis revealed one theme (1) Decreasing stigma among healthcare professionals by viewing substance use disorder as a disease; and two sub-themes: Subtheme 1a: Relating with the patients, “It could be me…”; Subtheme 1b: Interactions with patients, “We just don’t know exactly how to counsel these patients…” These themes describe how future healthcare professionals might perceive and approach patients with SUDs and highlight the importance of SUD training in the curriculum. Conclusion: Medical and pharmacy students are uniquely positioned to apply critical thinking from their didactic training to their real-world clinical experiences, and their collective perspectives inform gaps in training and opportunities to develop best practices for SUD care. An opportunity exists to leverage these findings in order to train future healthcare professionals to ensure access to and quality of SUD care.

Keywords: substance use disorder; stigma; medical students; pharmacy students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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