The purpose of this research is to compare college students’ perceptions of harm and availability of two classes of prescription drugs commonly abused, namely stimulants and opioids. With prescription drug abuse being an increasing problem, particularly in West Virginia, it seemed pertinent to see how college age students perceived the harm and availability of prescription drugs. The main focus of the research is to discover whether a student’s major and level of science and/or healthcare education plays a significant role in these perceptions. We hypothesized that students with more science or healthcare education would be more knowledgeable about prescription drug hazards. This research was conducted by collecting data from students who attend Wheeling Jesuit University by means of two anonymous surveys. The results of the perception questions were then tested against the student’s major and level of science or health care education.  Students were asked various questions including where they thought people acquired prescription drugs illegally, as well as various insights on the percentage of people using/abusing prescription stimulants like Adderall or opioids like Vicodin. Through this research, our goal is to make college students more aware of prescription drug abuse and common conceptions/misconceptions about prescription drugs.  It could also be used as a tool to design better future programs about raising awareness of prescription drug abuse in the university setting.<br/>

College students’ perceptions about commonly abused prescription drugs

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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