Solving Stigma Through POV Simulation: Enhancing Pharmacist Empathy-based Practices With Sickle Cell Disease Patients

Conditions

• Stigma

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - N/A

Healthy Volunteers

Accepted

Interventions

• point of view simulation — BEHAVIORAL
  In POV simulations, participants actively engage with a patient looking to fill an opioid script at a community pharmacy setting through the point of view of the pharmacist. Using a "choose your own adventure" branch chain format, our research team has already drafted interaction pathways where participants can respond to the patient with empathy-based practice, act on a common misconception around chronic opioid use, or mislabel the patient as drug seeking. After 3-4 interaction branches, the participants reach a decision to fill the opioid script, deny it, or some variation of delaying the script being filled. The POV simulation then replays the participant's choices back to them from the patient's point of view, revealing that the SCD patient was in genuine pain and engaging participant's empathy as they rewatch their microaggressive and mislabeled drug seeker choices through the patient's POV.
• Control — BEHAVIORAL
  Participants will watch a hematology educational video unrelated to pain management

Study Details

Why This Research Matters (Significance) 1 in 5 of the 50+ million people with chronic pain in the U.S. face stigma when using opioids, especially women and racial minorities. This stigma often comes from pharmacy staff treating chronic pain patients as drug seekers, who then refuse to fill the patient's script, and leave the patient in severe pain. The team has found that having pharmacists watch testimonial videos of sickle cell patients sharing their pain management struggles can help reduce these misconceptions. However, using point of view simulations could be even more effective in fostering empathy among pharmacists. The goal is to create an educational simulation that helps pharmacists better understand and manage pain in sickle cell patients, ultimately improving their care. What Makes This Research Unique (Innovation) Traditional methods to address biases in healthcare include watching patient testimonials or using expensive actors to play a standardized patient interaction to health professionals. This innovative point of view simulations engage participants' empathy more effectively by playing back what participants told the patient from the patient's point of view and are more accessible by having participants interact with the simulation on the computer any time and any place, rather than organizing a paid actor to visit the hospital. With advancements in artificial intelligence, we can create interactive simulations where virtual patients respond dynamically to questions, making the experience more realistic and impactful. How Will the Researchers Conduct the Research (Approach) The researchers will test if point of view simulations can reduce misconceptions among healthcare professionals and improve pain management for sickle cell patients. Here's the plan: 1. Create and Implement the Simulation: Use it as part of the training for pharmacy and hospital staff, as well as nursing and pharmacy students. 2. Survey Participants: Before and after the simulation, participants will take a survey to measure their misconceptions about opioid use. 3. Follow-Up: Six months later, researchers will survey the participants' patients and their managers to see if there's been an improvement in the empathetic care the participants provided.

Key Dates

Start date

May 1, 2026

Status verified

Apr 2026

Primary completion

Jul 31, 2026

Completion

Jul 31, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment

200 participants (estimated)

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

CROSSOVER

Primary purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Arms

• Experimental: POV simulation
  Participating pharmacists in the experimental arm will receive an email invitation to complete a 16-item pre-survey around opioid use misconceptions before completing the point of view simulation activity. 10 days after participants complete the simulation they will be invited to complete the opioid misconception survey again as a post-learning intervention assessment. 6 months after participants complete the simulation, their practice site will be visited by a sickle cell disease patient evaluator who will refill their opioid medication with the pharmacist and then complete an 11-item evaluation survey on the pharmacist's empathy-based pharmacy practices.
• Sham Comparator: Control
  Participating pharmacists in the sham arm will receive an email invitation to complete a 16-item pre-survey around opioid use misconceptions before completing an unrelated hematology educational activity. 10 days after participants complete the simulation they will be invited to complete the opioid misconception survey again as a post-learning intervention assessment. 6 months after participants complete the simulation, their practice site will be visited by a sickle cell disease patient evaluator who will refill their opioid medication with the pharmacist and then complete an 11-item evaluation survey on the pharmacist's empathy-based pharmacy practices.

Primary Outcome Measure

Agreement/disagreement toward opioid use misconceptions [ Time Frame: Baseline and 10 days post-treatment ]

Locations (1)

Find similar trials in Columbus, OH

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