Development and Delivery of a Theory-Guided Prescription Stimulant Misuse and Diversion Curriculum for College Health Providers: Results From Validity, Delphi, and Pre-Post Testing.

Background: Past studies have shown a large percentage of college health providers (CHPs) feel responsible yet unprepared to address prescription stimulant misuse (PSM) and prescription stimulant diversion (PSD). As such, the authors developed a theory-guided, universal curriculum for CHPs to more confidently address PSM and PSD among their student populations. The purpose of the current study was to refine the curriculum using a multistep approach and assess the impact on providers' PSM and PSD knowledge, attitudes, norms, barriers, and self-efficacy.

Methods: The initial version of the curriculum was reviewed for content validity by 2 content/curriculum experts. Next, 5 students reviewed a revised version of the curriculum for face validity. The authors further refined the curriculum using the Delphi technique; specifically, a geographically diverse sample of 28 CHPs rated the appropriateness and clarity of each topic within each objective of the curriculum. Next, staff (N = 27) at 1 student health center received the training and completed a pre-post assessment to evaluate impact on knowledge, attitudes, norms, barriers, and self-efficacy. Quantitative (eg, means, medians, paired t-tests) and qualitative feedback were reviewed to guide refinement. These activities were completed between August 2023 and August 2024.

Results: The criteria for content and face validity were met based on the reviews by curriculum experts and students, respectively. The Delphi technique required 2 rounds. All discussion topics had median and mode scores that reflected appropriateness and clarity. Pre-post assessment of the training showed significant improvements in CHPs knowledge, norms, self-efficacy, implementation barriers, and confidence to overcome barriers related to addressing PSM and PSD.

Conclusions: A multistep process produced a comprehensive and theory-guided curriculum. Curriculum receipt resulted in improvements in multiple domains. Next steps include using an experimental design to test the impact of an intervention based on this training on student behavior, as well as digitizing and disseminating the training.