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UMass Dartmouth College of Nursing & Health Sciences

No Stigma Nursing

Mirinda Tyo, Monika Schuler, Jennifer Viveiros, Mary McCurry, Front Row: Shannon Avery-Desmarais

College of Nursing & Health Sciences faculty serving on the No Stigma research team are, from left, Mirinda Tyo, Monika Schuler, Shannon Avery-Desmarais, Jennifer Viveiros, and Mary McCurry.

About No Stigma Nursing

Building Pathways to Equitable Care

Professor Mary McCurry and Assistant Professors Monika Schuler, Jennifer Viveiros, Shannon Avery-Desmarais and Mirinda Tyo of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) were awarded a $595,485 grant from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts to develop an evidence-based toolkit of high-fidelity simulations for undergraduate, masters, and doctoral nursing students to address stigma towards populations with opioid use disorder. The educational interventions will aim to enhance knowledge and empathy in the next generation of nurses and nurse practitioners to remove barriers to treatment and improve outcomes for patients with opioid use disorder.

First research paper published in Journal of Nursing Scholarship 

In its first publication for this project, the No Stigma team conducted semi-structured focus group interviews with participants who were either coping with opioid use disorder (OUD), a caregiver for someone with OUD, and/or a group leader for individuals with OUD. Participants provided in-depth narratives of their experiences with stigma in healthcare and other barriers and facilitators experienced when interacting with the healthcare system. Findings from this study were used in combination with evidence-based practice guidelines to inform our Novel Organizational Simulation Training to Improve Graduate's Mastery & Attitudes (NO STIGMA) Simulation Suite.

About our funder

Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE)

Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) is a national, private, grantmaking foundation focused solely on inspiring and accelerating action to end the nation's opioid epidemic. As a national foundation, FORE is committed to funding a diverse set of projects across the United States.

With patients at the center, FORE is focused on supporting programs and grants in four key areas:

  • Professional education
  • Payer & Provider strategies
  • Policy initiatives
  • Public awareness

Since 2018 – they have funded 55 projects totaling 17.9 million dollars.

UMass Dartmouth Team Award Amount: $591,485.00
Project Duration Feb 2022 – January 31, 2024