Whose opinion matters about medications for opioid use disorder? A cross-sectional survey of social norms among court staff

Abstract

Background: Criminal problem-solving and dependency courts set treatment standards for opioid use disorder (OUD) but sometimes prohibit or limit utilization of medications for OUD (MOUD). Court staff beliefs about MOUD inform court treatment policies. Court staff MOUD policies may also be influenced by social norms, meaning perceptions of opinions of other individuals/entities about MOUD, including opinions of fellow staff in their court, staff in other courts, the state supreme court, other state agencies, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), federal agencies, and local peer support groups. To date no study has examined social norms among court staff with respect to MOUD. Methods: We distributed an online cross-sectional survey in 2019 to all criminal problem-solving and dependency court staff in Florida. Respondents were asked to identify the extent to which they cared about different entities’/individuals’ opinions about MOUD and the extent to which they perceived each of those entities/individuals as encouraging MOUD. We hypothesized that court role and court type would be associated with responses. We used descriptive statistics, logistic regressions, and difference of proportions tests to analyze data. Results: 20% of the population (n = 119) completed the survey. Respondents cared most about the opinions of external treatment providers with whom they collaborate, fellow staff in their court, and the NADCP regarding MOUD. Fewer than half felt that any of these entities/individuals encourage methadone or oral buprenorphine. Additionally, fewer than 11% of respondents felt that local twelve-step peer support groups encourage the use of any form of MOUD. Conclusions: MOUD education should target all members of court teams, including collaborating treatment providers. Since court staff care relatively little about the MOUD opinions of staff in other courts, changes in opinions in one court may not affect changes in opinions in a neighboring court. The NADCP should more explicitly state its support for MOUD, and specifically oral buprenorphine and methadone treatment.

Keywords:

• Courts
• social norms
• medication
• opioid use disorder
• peer support
• National Association of Drug Court Professionals
• addiction

Disclosure statement

In 2017, Dr. Andraka-Christou received a research grant from Alkermes, Inc. to develop online education about substance use disorder for college students and a mobile health tracking application for college students. The Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator did not have any role in the design, data collection, or analysis of the study, except providing the researchers with the email addresses of all criminal problem-solving court and dependency court staff in Florida.

Authors’ contributions

Dr. Andraka-Christou conceptualized the project, obtained funding for the research, led development of the survey instrument, recruited participants, and led manuscript drafting. Dr. Atkins led analysis of the data and assisted with manuscript drafting and editing.

Data availability statement

Deidentified survey data, with small cell sizes redacted, is available from the corresponding author by request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator.