Date of Award

4-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Mary Peterson, Ph.D

Second Advisor

Kathleen Gathercoal, Ph.D

Third Advisor

Julie Oyemaja, Psy.D

Abstract

Since the implementation of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), providers have struggled to obtain the necessary waiver (X-waiver) due to required federal applications, training, and guidelines around prescribing. Nevertheless, prescribers have gone through this arduous process to gain their X-waiver, but a unique phenomenon has occurred where some providers with an X-waiver are not utilizing their ability to prescribe MAT. The current study sought to uncover trends in providers prescribing practices while assessing possible factors involved including personality, compassion, compassion fatigue, personal connection, and confidence factors that may be associated with a willingness to prescribe. The study used an electronic survey including the following measures: The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL), the Big 5 Inventory-10 (BFI-10), followed by a subset of additional questions to assess confidence, personal relatability to OUD, and the providers subjective experience treating patients with MAT. The survey was sent to providers in Oregon that included X-waivered physicians (Group 1), non-X-waivered nurse practitioners (Group 2), and X-waivered physicians in leadership roles (Group 3). Results were analyzed with SPSS. Results showed moderate effect size correlations between number of patients treated and connections to colleagues (r = .420), connections to relatives (r = .301) and connection to friends (r=.32) respectively. Additionally, results showed large effect size correlations between burnout and confidence in Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT; r = .653), and large correlations between confidence in provider, patient, and clinic ability and providers’ willingness to prescribe. Additionally, the study showed that providers working with MAT were likely to have a higher-level openness and experience a gratifying relationship with patients that drives their desire to work with this high-risk population.

Download

Share

COinS