Term of Award

Summer 2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Ryan Couillou

Committee Member 1

Lawrence Locker

Committee Member 2

Brandon Bergman

Abstract

Emerging adults exhibit disproportionately elevated levels of substance use disorders (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2021), opioid misuse (SAMHSA, 2021), and opioid use (Hu et al., 2017; Jones et al., 2015) compared to other age cohorts. If left untreated, opioid misuse and opioid use disorder can lead to various negative consequences, including premature death (Strang et al., 2020). Prior research indicates emerging adults have higher opioid-related mortality rates compared to other age groups in the United States (Gomes et al., 2018). Buprenorphine, an opioid partial agonist medication, is an effective intervention for opioid use disorder (Mattick et al., 2014). However, research indicates emerging adults display poorer treatment outcomes with buprenorphine compared to other age cohorts (Dreifuss et al., 2013; Marcovitz et al., 2016; March et al., 2005; Schuman-Olivier et al., 2014b). One explanation for these poorer outcomes may be that emerging adults have more negative attitudes toward mental health treatment (Gonzalez et al., 2005) and psychiatric and substance use treatment medications (Bergman et al., 2020) compared to other age cohorts. Thus, attitudes toward medications may be an important barrier preventing emerging adults from engaging in treatment with buprenorphine. First-person storytelling (FPT), which involves individuals sharing their lived experiences with others, is an effective intervention for modifying health-related attitudes and behaviors (Lipsey et al., 2020). This study involved a novel investigation of testing a fictionalized FPT video intervention versus a didactic video intervention to increase positive attitudes and positive behavioral intentions toward buprenorphine among emerging adults who reported a current or resolved substance use problem. The primary investigator (PI) hypothesized participants randomly assigned to the FPT video with buprenorphine would report greater increases in positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward buprenorphine compared to participants assigned to the didactic educational video about treatment with buprenorphine. Contrary to hypotheses, participants randomly assigned to the didactic video (n = 69) reported greater increases in positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward buprenorphine compared to participants randomly assigned to the FPT video (n = 73). This is the first study to use a FPT video to target attitudes and behavioral intentions toward buprenorphine.

OCLC Number

1432734334

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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