CTN-0104: Healthcare Provider Stigma Related to the Opioid Use Epidemic and Its Impact on Patient Treatment and Clinical Management

Lisa Metsch, PhD
Lead Investigator

Stephen Smith Professor and Chair of Sociomedical Sciences Department
Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
Lm2892@columbia.edu

Provider stigma — defined as negative attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors that providers embody and enact (sometimes subtly or involuntarily) towards their patients — poses one critical barrier to effective delivery of care. Understanding the science of such stigma, especially in primary care setting, is critical to change providers’ mindset regarding opioid use disorders to one that can be successfully managed in primary care in alignment with other chronic conditions. This study will address these issues by conducting a national provider survey of the general practice workforce (primary care physicians, medical specialists, and dentists). A representative sample will be drawn from federally qualified health care centers and other health care settings to better understand their attitudes and stigma towards substance use disorders and its impact on treatment and clinical management. Specific aims are: (1) to define the scope of provider stigma towards drug use by substance type, and compared to other medical conditions; (2) compare providers’ screening, treatment and referral practices for drug use to their screening, treatment and referral practices for other medical conditions; (3) identify factors related to delivery of drug use treatment in U.S.-based primary care settings to inform educational and intervention strategies addressing provider stigma.

Funded by the NIH HEAL InitiativeSM.

Related Resources

    Node Involvement

    Lead Node(s):

  • Florida Node Alliance

  • All Participating Nodes:

  • Florida Node Alliance