First Advisor

Rebecca Cantone

Date of Award

Summer 8-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Psychology and University Honors

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Subjects

naloxone, harm reduction, neuroscience education, substance use disorder

Abstract

Harm reduction (HR) is a movement focused on reducing the harms of the opioid overdose crisis through education, advocacy, and community engagement. A key component of HR is naloxone, a medication which reverses opioid overdoses when administered. Due to increased fentanyl contamination, opioid overdose deaths have been on the rise among adolescents in the U.S and HR practices are crucially important at this point in time. In recent years, alternative curricula of HR education have included a neuroscience-based approach to the topic of substance use. While both traditional and alternative programs have had success increasing substance use literacy among adolescents, no studies to date have compared the efficacy of the two forms of HR education.

This thesis aims to compare the effectiveness of HR education with and without a neuroscience component through a survey of undergraduate students. 55 participants completed a survey assessing their knowledge, comfort, and interest in naloxone administration both before and after a video intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to a Control condition consisting of one video on naloxone administration, or a Neuroscience condition consisting of an additional video on the neurological mechanisms of naloxone. Participants completed a survey assessing their knowledge, comfort, and interest in naloxone administration both before and after a video intervention. Both conditions were effective at increasing participants' Knowledge and Comfort scores. The Neuroscience condition (M = 90%, SD = 7.9%) yielded significantly higher post-intervention knowledge scores than the Control condition (M = 83%, SD = 12.4%).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42468

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