Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4725-8132
Date Available
9-26-2027
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Communication and Information
Department/School/Program
Communication
Faculty
Nancy Harrington
Faculty
Elizabeth Spencer
Faculty
Renee Kaufmann
Abstract
The efficacy of opioid medications for pain management is matched by a significant level of risk to the patient, including overdose, dependence, and diversion (e.g., Dowell et al., 2022). This study assesses how physicians perceive and communicate the risks posed to patients by opioids using constructs from the extended parallel process model (Witte, 1992). Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with 20 physicians practicing in a single southeastern state along with demographic surveys. Physicians had varied strategies for communicating opioid risks, including doing so without increasing stigma toward the patient. Factors that impacted perceived patient susceptibility to opioid-related harms varied, though some common factors emerged. Physicians generally perceived death as the most severe potential opioid-related harm. Participants' self-efficacy to prescribe opioids safely varied but was often bolstered by a sense of collective efficacy as part of a medical practice or specialty. Finally, physicians attributed high response efficacy to tools like naloxone and prescription drug monitoring but were less confident in the response efficacy of their risk communication. Theoretical implications include overlap between self-efficacy and response efficacy in risk communicators and the communication of perceived susceptibility to a threatened other. Practical implications include improvements to physician communication trainings and to patient education.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.458
Funding Information
Student Patient Education Fellowship, 2024
Society for Public Health Education
Recommended Citation
Hudd, Eleanor C., "Examining Physicians' Opioid-Related Risk Communication" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Communication. 141.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/comm_etds/141
