BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:EventsCalendar PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:College of Nursing and Health Sciences,Thesis/Dissertations DESCRIPTION:TITLE: Addressing Stigma Towards Individuals with Substance Use Disorders: A Quality Improvement ProjectDATE: May 18, 2026TIME: 9:00 AMZO OM: Please contact dhoffman@umassd.edu for ZOOM link. COMMITTEE:Matha Whit field, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, ChairKathleen Elliott, DNP, RN, ANP-BCDr. Xuan Nguyen ABSTRACT: Background: Substance use disorders (SUDs) remain a sig nificant public health issue in the United States. Stigma directed at indi viduals with SUDs can negatively impact treatment engagement, recovery out comes, and overall quality of care. Stigmatizing attitudes among healthcar e professionals can lead to biased decisions, reduced empathy, and comprom ised therapeutic relationships. Aims: This quality improvement project w as aimed at identifying, addressing, and reducing stigma among clinical st aff within an inpatient addiction recovery setting. The goal of this proje ct was to foster a more compassionate and nonjudgement care environment th at promote recovery-oriented practices. Methods: The project was guided by the Johns Hopkins Evidence Based Practice model and Hildegard Peplau’ s Nurse-patient Relationship or Interpersonal Relationship framework. An e ducational intervention consisting of a short PowerPoint presentation lect ure and a podcast from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AA NP) was delivered to nurses working on an inpatient psychiatric facility i n Massachusetts. The effect of the intervention on staff attitudes was mea sured using the Patient-Center Drug and Drug Problems and Perception (PC-D DPPQ). Intellecttus Statistics was used for analysis. Results: Forty-two p articipants were recruited to the project study; thirty-two completed the educational intervention. Pre and post intervention PC-DDPPQ results were analyzed using paired t-tests and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The sampl e did not meet power (n=32), and pre and post intervention results did not demonstrate statistical significance. However, the open-ended question results indicated that participants found the intervention was meaningful. Discussion and conclusion: In this quality improvement study, an educatio nal intervention focused on stigma reduction did not demonstrate statistic al significance as measured by the PC-DDPPQ pre and post intervention amon gst clinical staff. However, participants noted benefits in their open-end ed survey questions, indicating motivation to modify their perceptions in providing treatment to individuals with substance use disorders. Using the rapeutic communication has been demonstrated to reduce stigmatization, wit h implications for reducing the risk of drug overdose. Sustaining these im provements requires ongoing staffing training, leadership support, and int egration of anti-stigma principles into organizational policies.\nEvent pa ge: https://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/college-of-nursing-and-health-scienc es-dnp-defense---armand-belony.php X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

TITLE: Addressing Stigma Toward s Individuals with Substance Use Disorders: A Quality Improvement Project< br />DATE: May 18\, 2026
TIME: 9:00 AM
ZOOM: Please contact dhof fman@umassd.edu for ZOOM link.

COMMITTEE:
Matha Whitfield\, PhD\, APRN\, FNP-BC\, Chair
Kathleen Elliott\, DNP\, RN\, ANP-BC
Dr. Xuan Nguyen

ABSTRACT:

Background: Substance us e disorders (SUDs) remain a significant public health issue in the United States. Stigma directed at individuals with SUDs can negatively impact tre atment engagement\, recovery outcomes\, and overall quality of care. Stigm atizing attitudes among healthcare professionals can lead to biased decisi ons\, reduced empathy\, and compromised therapeutic relationships.

Aims: This quality improvement project was aimed at identifying\, addre ssing\, and reducing stigma among clinical staff within an inpatient addic tion recovery setting. The goal of this project was to foster a more compa ssionate and nonjudgement care environment that promote recovery-oriented practices.

Methods: The project was guided by the Johns Hopkins Evidence Based Practice model and Hildegard Peplau’s Nurse-patient Relat ionship or Interpersonal Relationship framework. An educational interventi on consisting of a short PowerPoint presentation lecture and a podcast fro m the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) was delivered to nurses working on an inpatient psychiatric facility in Massachusetts. The effect of the intervention on staff attitudes was measured using the Patie nt-Center Drug and Drug Problems and Perception (PC-DDPPQ). Intellecttus S tatistics was used for analysis.

Results: Forty-two participants w ere recruited to the project study\; thirty-two completed the educational intervention. Pre and post intervention PC-DDPPQ results were analyzed usi ng paired t-tests and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The sample did not me et power (n=32)\, and pre and post intervention results did not demonstrat e statistical significance. However\, the open-ended question results in dicated that participants found the intervention was meaningful.

D iscussion and conclusion: In this quality improvement study\, an education al intervention focused on stigma reduction did not demonstrate statistica l significance as measured by the PC-DDPPQ pre and post intervention among st clinical staff. However\, participants noted benefits in their open-end ed survey questions\, indicating motivation to modify their perceptions in providing treatment to individuals with substance use disorders. Using th erapeutic communication has been demonstrated to reduce stigmatization\, w ith implications for reducing the risk of drug overdose. Sustaining these improvements requires ongoing staffing training\, leadership support\, and integration of anti-stigma principles into organizational policies.

Event page: https://www.umassd.e du/events/cms/college-of-nursing-and-health-sciences-dnp-defense---armand- belony.php

DTSTAMP:20260506T153550 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260518T100000 LOCATION:ZOOM SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:College of Nursing and Health Sciences DNP Defense - Armand Belony UID:81cea937cc5a4def029bdad713e18443@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR