Comparing Two Training Methods for Opioid Wizard

Reducing Stigma Toward People With Opioid Use Disorder Among Primary Care Clinicians

The prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) and opioid-related deaths has risen dramatically in recent years. Effective treatments, including medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs; e.g., buprenorphine-naloxone and methadone) are under-utilized. There are few evidence-based interventions for changing attitudes toward Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in the general public and especially among healthcare clinicians. This study proposed an innovative intervention to change attitudes of Primary Care Clinicians (PCCs) toward persons with OUD. Study participants were stratified into one of two online learning courses: the intervention training was compared with an attention-control training.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Opioid Dependence; Opioid-use Disorder; Attitude of Health Personnel
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Online training

Detailed Description

Primary care offers an ideal setting in which to treat OUD; however, few clinicians are waivered to prescribe buprenorphine and of those who are waivered, less than one-third do prescribe. One potential barrier to increasing access to MOUDs are primary care clinician (PCC) attitudes towards people with OUD.

This study used a randomized controlled trial design to examine a novel intervention to change attitudes towards people with OUD among PCCs. PCCs in clinics randomized to the intervention in COMPUTE 2.0 (PCCs in 15 of the 30 clinics randomized in the parent study) were randomized 1:1 to the intervention or comparison training, stratified by clinic and waiver status. Training was conducted via MyLearning, an online learning software. All PCCs were asked to complete a brief training (25-35 minutes for both trainings) on the shared decision-making tool (SDM) called the Opioid Wizard, which alerts PCCs to screen, diagnose, and treat people with OUD. PCCs in the intervention arm heard patient narratives designed to shift attitudes about patients with OUD. PCCs in the comparison training had training on using the SDM tool. The PCCs were asked to complete a survey of attitudes and intentions to get waivered to prescribe buprenorphine immediately following the online training. Use of the CDS was monitored in both groups for 6 months.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 88
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Minnesota
    • Bloomington, Minnesota, United States, 55425-4516
      • HealthPartners

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Primary Care Clinician: Had to be a family physician, general internist, adult-care non-obstetric nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant
• Had to practice at a study-eligible primary care clinic already involved in the main study intervention arm

Exclusion Criteria:

PCCs were ineligible to participate if they had fewer than 5 eligible patient encounters between Sep 2020 and Feb 2021.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; This arm received a case-based training on how to use the Opioid Wizard tool, including patient narratives and videos and person-first language.	Behavioral: Online training; This intervention consisted of two different interactive online trainings delivered through an online learning platform at HealthPartners.
Placebo Comparator: Comparison training; This arm received a case-based training on how to use the Opioid Wizard tool.	Behavioral: Online training; This intervention consisted of two different interactive online trainings delivered through an online learning platform at HealthPartners.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Difference, Disdain, and Blame Scales	Attitudes toward people with OUD were measured using the Difference, Disdain, and Blame scales, which measure attitudes toward people with mental illness and substance use disorders (SUDs). Difference, Disdain, and Blame scales measured stigma toward people with OUD, with three questions in each domain. Items are scored on a 9-point agreement scale. The range is 1-9; some items are reverse-scored. Items are averaged to obtain a score, with higher scores reflecting more stigma (range = 1-9). Evidence suggests that the scales demonstrate good internal consistency and are positively associated.	Immediately after completing online training.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intentions to Get Waivered to Prescribe Buprenorphine.	Non-waivered PCCs rated one question on their intention to get waivered to prescribe buprenorphine ("How likely are you to get waivered to prescribe buprenorphine in the next year?") on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (I definitely will not) to 5 (I definitely will). Higher scores correspond to greater intention to get waivered.	Immediately after completing online training
Intentions to Prescribe Buprenorphine Should a Waiver no Longer be Required.	Non-waivered PCCs rated one question on their intentions to prescribe buprenorphine if a waiver were no longer required ("If your patient with OUD requested buprenorphine in the next year and a waiver were no longer required, would you prescribe buprenorphine?") on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (I definitely would not) to 5 (I definitely would). Higher numbers indicate greater likelihood to prescribe buprenorphine.	Immediately after completing online training
Opioid Wizard Use	PCC Opioid Wizard use was defined as clicking within the tool, such as screening for OUD, making a diagnosis, providing a referral, prescribing a medication, printing patient education materials, or prescribing naloxone. This variable was dichotomized as whether the PCC ever clicked in the tool (1=yes; 0=no) in the 6 months following the training.	Six months following online training.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: HealthPartners Institute
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stephanie Hooker, PhD, MPH, MS, HealthPartners Institute

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 9, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 10, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): November 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 27, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): April 30, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 15, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 18, 2022
• Last Verified: August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Narcotic-Related Disorders; Opioid-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: A20-156; 3UG1DA040316-06S4 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: As part of the HEAL initiative, the main study results, as described in the initial publication, will be shared on the HEAL Data Platform.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Pending

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

You will not need to log in in order to: browse the study metadata on the Discovery Page or read the pre-made tutorial notebooks in the "Example Analysis" tab.

You will need to log in and obtain authorization (access) in order to: register your own study; access studies with controlled data perform analyses in workspaces; and download data files and file manifests. run interactive tutorial notebooks in workspaces

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No