July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024
CARES Science to Systems Grant program: https://www.umaryland.edu/cares/ssg/
The first aim of this project is to survey social workers and nurses to capture their attitudes toward, knowledge of, and desired training needs related to psychedelics, medication-assisted therapy, and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Using results from the survey, we will fulfill the second aim of the project to develop a curriculum outline for a CPE overview course as step one in the creation of a full CPE certificate that can be delivered by the UMB Social Work and Nursing CPE departments.
Project Background
A growing body of research on the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT) to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including substance abuse and addiction, has coincided with rising mental health and substance abuse rates in recent years and the drug decriminalization movement, fueling what’s being described as the “psychedelic renaissance”. However, most healthcare providers currently lack sufficient knowledge and are reluctant to discuss psychedelics in their practices because of inadequate knowledge, stigma, and possible legal consequences. Social workers and nurses especially will be essential players in any effective response to meet the projected mental health needs and manage the risks from increased medical and naturalistic use of psychedelics. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that they are currently receiving relevant training in their secondary and post-graduate professional education. This project aims to take a first step to address this gap.
Research Study
The study sample will be drawn from the Schools of Social Work and Nursing CPE email listservs, which contain approximately 8000 members each. The majority of members are licensed and seeking CPE courses to maintain their licensure, which would be the target population most likely interested in programming on medicine-assisted therapies and the science and therapeutics of psychedelics. Survey questions will assess participants’ knowledge of and attitudes toward 1) various types of psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, etc.), 2) treatment options for SUDs generally, including medicine-assisted therapies like PAT; and 3) current training experiences and expected/desired training needs related to SUDs and medication-assisted therapies and PAT.
For More Information
Contact the research team for more information.
Megan Meyer, MSW, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work
525 West Redwood Street Baltimore, MD 21201
mmeyer@ssw.umaryland.edu
410-706-5635