URI\u2019s Showcase for Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Works<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cDrug use, especially among younger populations, is incredibly interesting because what they\u2019re doing in college and high school really sets people up for the rest of their lives, so looking at the beginnings of this opioid misuse is really important to mitigate future use,\u201d Shepard said. \u201cOpioids are such a prevalent topic. Almost everyone knows someone who\u2019s been affected by the opioid epidemic, so it feels like a very important project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shepard and her partners at UNC conducted a randomized survey of undergrad students at both universities in the fall of 2018. The anonymous survey asked several questions about respondents\u2019 current and past use of opioids, the reasons for beginning and\/or continuing to misuse the drugs, and their source of medication.<\/p>\n
The self-reported survey indicates 13 percent of students have misused the drugs, just less than 10 percent having done so in the previous month. Most began taking opioids either for pain management or recreation, and the largest source of the drugs were students\u2019 friends and parents, followed by doctors and dentists. Shepard\u2019s study showed no differences among genders regarding opioid misuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that the most common predictor was a previous prescription to opioids, or other substance abuse such as alcohol, benzodiazepine and stimulant misuse, and to a lesser extent, marijuana,\u201d Shepard said. \u201cAs far as motivation, physical pain was the largest motivator students had, and after physical pain was recreational uses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey results are in line with Shepard\u2019s hypothesis, though she noted that with any self-reported survey, there is a chance not all respondents are being truthful, raising the possibility opioid misuse is higher among college students. The similarity of the studies at the two universities lends credibility to the numbers, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe factors were pretty steady over both universities, and since they are in such different geographic locations, it\u2019s interesting that it was so similar,\u201d Shepard said.<\/p>\n
The senior psychology major, who also serves as director of Professor Lisa Weyandt\u2019s research lab, began the partnership with UNC through a former student of Weyandt\u2019s who is now a professor at that university. In addition to the opioid study, she is also working with UNC researchers on studies regarding neuroplasticity in children with brain injuries and risky sexual behavior in college students with and without ADHD. Her ability to multitask is no surprise to Weyandt.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily is amazing. She\u2019s been directing my research lab since last year,\u201d Weyandt said. \u201cShe is an incredibly hard worker, very organized, and she has exceptional research skills. She could have gone to many, many schools, but we\u2019re thrilled to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scheduled to graduate in May 2020, Shepard is applying to graduate schools to continue her studies in clinical psychology. Ultimately, she plans to work with adolescents, particularly those struggling with substance misuse. \u201cSo this project ties right in with what I\u2019m interested in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/969\/fullsizeoutput_240-300x264.jpeg\")
Shepard and her partners are working on publishing their study, hoping to submit it to a major medical journal by the end of the fall semester. She believes her study could provide a road map for future opioid studies and potential solutions, including limiting prescriptions, teaching better pain management techniques, and educating students about the risks involved with opioid misuse to help discourage recreational use.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuture research can use that information to create a targeted approach to reduce the amount of opioid misuse on college campuses,\u201d Shepard said. \u201cI really hope it will bring more awareness to how people start misusing opioid. I think there can be such a stigma against people who are misusing drugs and are addicted to these drugs. So seeing where they come from and how this began might lead to more compassion and come up with more targeted ways to mitigate the first introduction to misusing the drug.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Psychology major Emily Shepard\u2019s study wins award at research showcase About 13 percent of college students acknowledge having misused opioids at some point in their lives, having begun taking the prescription medication either for pain management or for recreation, a URI College of Health Sciences student\u2019s recent study has found. Psychology major Emily Shepard combined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1710,"featured_media":7485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7482"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7494,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482\/revisions\/7494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}