College students’ perceived knowledge of and perceived helpfulness of treatments for opioid use disorder at two American universities

ABSTRACT

Background The U.S. is experiencing an opioid overdose health crisis, largely driven by opioid use disorder (OUD). College students have relatively high rates of substance use disorders.

Objectives To identify perceived knowledge of and perceived helpfulness of various OUD treatments, including medications for OUD (MOUD), among college students.

Methods A convenience sample of students enrolled at two public universities during Fall 2018/Spring 2019 were recruited for an online cross-sectional survey. Questions examined reported knowledge of and perceived helpfulness of MOUD (i.e. methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone) and non-MOUD treatments for OUD (e.g. peer support groups, individual counseling, group counseling, outpatient treatment). Logistic regression examined associations between knowledge, perceived helpfulness, and demographic variables.

Results We received 1,439 responses and kept 1,280 (39% male; 61% female). Respondents were significantly more likely to report knowledge about non-MOUD treatments than MOUD treatments (48.7% of respondents reported being very knowledgeable about individual counseling, 4.4% about methadone, 3.8% about naltrexone, and 3.4% about buprenorphine). Among those reporting at least some MOUD knowledge, few perceived MOUD as helpful/very helpful (methadone 14%, naltrexone 14%, and buprenorphine 11%). Among those reporting at least some counseling knowledge, 71% felt counseling was helpful/very helpful. Perceived treatment knowledge was significantly and positively associated with perceived treatment helpfulness.

Conclusions Students had more positive attitudes toward non-MOUD treatments than toward MOUD despite greater efficacy of the latter for OUD. Colleges could provide information about MOUD during orientation, in course work, through student extracurricular organizations, or through college health clinics.

KEYWORDS:

• College
• methadone
• buprenorphine
• naltrexone
• counseling
• opioid use disorder
• knowledge
• attitude

Declaration of competing interest

In 2016, Dr. Andraka-Christou and Dr. Madeira received a grant from Alkermes, Inc. to develop the Substance Use Navigation system, consisting of educational videos about substance use disorders and a mobile health application for tracking symptoms for college students.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.