Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy
Abstract Background People with substance use disorder, and pregnant women especially, are subject to a lot of stigmas, which can prevent optimal accessibility and quality of care. In this survey, we investigated attitudes of final year medical students regarding substance use during pregnancy and i...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2022-05-01
|
| Series: | BMC Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03394-8 |
| _version_ | 1797864432601137152 |
|---|---|
| author | Lou Richelle Michèle Dramaix-Wilmet Michel Roland Nadine Kacenelenbogen |
| author_facet | Lou Richelle Michèle Dramaix-Wilmet Michel Roland Nadine Kacenelenbogen |
| author_sort | Lou Richelle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background People with substance use disorder, and pregnant women especially, are subject to a lot of stigmas, which can prevent optimal accessibility and quality of care. In this survey, we investigated attitudes of final year medical students regarding substance use during pregnancy and identified the factors that influence these attitudes. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 and 2020 in Belgium using the short version of the “Substance Abuse Attitude Survey” questionnaire. We focused on two items regarding punishment of substance use during pregnancy. We analysed the concordance between these two, their correlation with other items (e.g. stereotyping, morality, forced withdrawal, low treatment optimism) and the association between respondents’ opinion on punishment and their sociodemographic data. Results The response rate was 65.2% (370/567 online and face-to face questionnaires). 19.2% of respondents were in favour of punishment for alcohol use (n = 353) and 15.1% for drug use (n = 356) during pregnancy. The agreement analysis between the two items showed that 14.3% of students were in favour of punishing both pregnant women who use drugs and those using alcohol. Respondents tended to be more in favour of punishment if they were male students, older, their mothers’ had a lower education level or had no personal or family history of substance use. Attitudes appeared to be more punitive among students with limited contact with people with substance use disorder (i.e. none or limited to hospital). Students intending to specialise in internal medicine were more in favour of punishment of women whereas none of those intending to specialise in psychiatry were in favour. Conclusion Our study shows that about 20% of surveyed medical students favoured punishing substance-using pregnant women. Awareness and training work seems to be necessary to ensure adequate care and support for this already vulnerable population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T22:51:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7c9277d88d4f4718a83475c51cf96b49 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6920 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T22:51:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-7c9277d88d4f4718a83475c51cf96b492023-03-22T11:36:35ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202022-05-0122111010.1186/s12909-022-03394-8Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancyLou Richelle0Michèle Dramaix-Wilmet1Michel Roland2Nadine Kacenelenbogen3Department of General Medicine, Université Libre de BruxellesDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Université Libre de BruxellesDepartment of General Medicine, Université Libre de BruxellesDepartment of General Medicine, Université Libre de BruxellesAbstract Background People with substance use disorder, and pregnant women especially, are subject to a lot of stigmas, which can prevent optimal accessibility and quality of care. In this survey, we investigated attitudes of final year medical students regarding substance use during pregnancy and identified the factors that influence these attitudes. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 and 2020 in Belgium using the short version of the “Substance Abuse Attitude Survey” questionnaire. We focused on two items regarding punishment of substance use during pregnancy. We analysed the concordance between these two, their correlation with other items (e.g. stereotyping, morality, forced withdrawal, low treatment optimism) and the association between respondents’ opinion on punishment and their sociodemographic data. Results The response rate was 65.2% (370/567 online and face-to face questionnaires). 19.2% of respondents were in favour of punishment for alcohol use (n = 353) and 15.1% for drug use (n = 356) during pregnancy. The agreement analysis between the two items showed that 14.3% of students were in favour of punishing both pregnant women who use drugs and those using alcohol. Respondents tended to be more in favour of punishment if they were male students, older, their mothers’ had a lower education level or had no personal or family history of substance use. Attitudes appeared to be more punitive among students with limited contact with people with substance use disorder (i.e. none or limited to hospital). Students intending to specialise in internal medicine were more in favour of punishment of women whereas none of those intending to specialise in psychiatry were in favour. Conclusion Our study shows that about 20% of surveyed medical students favoured punishing substance-using pregnant women. Awareness and training work seems to be necessary to ensure adequate care and support for this already vulnerable population.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03394-8Substance usePregnancyMedical studentsAttitudes |
| spellingShingle | Lou Richelle Michèle Dramaix-Wilmet Michel Roland Nadine Kacenelenbogen Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy BMC Medical Education Substance use Pregnancy Medical students Attitudes |
| title | Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy |
| title_full | Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy |
| title_fullStr | Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy |
| title_short | Factors influencing medical students’ attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy |
| title_sort | factors influencing medical students attitudes towards substance use during pregnancy |
| topic | Substance use Pregnancy Medical students Attitudes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03394-8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lourichelle factorsinfluencingmedicalstudentsattitudestowardssubstanceuseduringpregnancy AT micheledramaixwilmet factorsinfluencingmedicalstudentsattitudestowardssubstanceuseduringpregnancy AT michelroland factorsinfluencingmedicalstudentsattitudestowardssubstanceuseduringpregnancy AT nadinekacenelenbogen factorsinfluencingmedicalstudentsattitudestowardssubstanceuseduringpregnancy |