Date of Completion
2023
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Mathematics & Statistics
Thesis Type
College of Arts and Science Honors, Honors College
First Advisor
Dr. Richard Single
Keywords
Opioid use disorder (OUD), stigma, addiction treatment, Vermont, statistical analysis
Abstract
Every day, the opioid epidemic claims victims despite clinically proven and safe methods of preventing death from an opioid overdose. Stigma and biases held by healthcare professionals are one of the reasons these deaths continue to occur, especially in teenagers and young adults vulnerable to social pressures. This thesis examines how the treatment of opioid use disorder can be impacted by stigma within the state of Vermont in aims to inform improvements in care for opioid-dependent patients. An analysis was performed on three locally based datasets related to opioid and substance abuse: the 2019 Vermont Hub and Spoke (H&S) data, the 2018 Vermont Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) data, and the 2020 Vermont Department of Health Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data. The findings of this research suggest that demographic variables of age and gender can lead to differences in the perception of a patient’s own opioid or substance abuse and treatment. The presence and severity of a patient’s depression can further impact their perceived stigma. Additionally, the results suggest that, compared to H&S and PRAMS, many of the current SBIRT protocols within the state of Vermont are successful in creating stigma-free environments for patients.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Crum, Charlotte Frances, "An Assessment of Stigma in the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Vermont" (2023). UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses. 684.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/684
