Attitudes of First Responders towards Supervised Consumption Services for People Who Use Drugs A Cross-Sectional Survey using Moral Foundations Theory
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Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to determine the degree to which first responders’ moral foundations predict attitudes toward supervised consumption services (SCS).
Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed first responders working in Winnipeg, Canada. The survey used validated instruments to explore attitudes toward SCS using moral foundations theory (MFT). We used correlation, ANOVA, and multiple OLS and logistic mediated regression techniques to test our hypotheses. We used first responders’ professional designation (0 = firefighter, 1 = paramedic), and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Davies et al., 2014) as the primary predictor and mediator variables, respectively. Attitudes towards SCS (1 = strongly oppose, 5 = strongly support) served as the primary dependent variable. We transformed this dependent variable by removing responses of ‘neither oppose nor support’ to test an additional logistic mediated regression model.
Results: Paramedics (n=91) had higher levels of individualizing moral foundations and lower levels of binding moral foundations relative to firefighters (n=51). Individualizing moral foundations predicted greater support for SCS, whereas binding moral foundations predicted lower support. These two categories of moral foundations mediated relationships between first responders’ professional designation and their support for SCS.
Conclusions: Paramedics and firefighters differ in their moral foundations and level of support for SCS. These findings can inform policymakers and decision-makers in developing strategies to consider first responders as essential stakeholders in implementing SCS.
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