Differences in Religious Commitment and Harm Reduction Attitudes Among US Medical Students by Sex Assigned at Birth: A Pilot Study

Harm reduction emphasizes positive change by working with individuals without judgment, coercion, discrimination, or requiring abstinence from drugs to receive support. This study examines how religious commitment and medical student attitudes toward harm reduction approaches for substance use differ based on sex assigned at birth. Participants from a US osteopathic medical school completed the revised Harm Reduction Acceptability Scale and the Belief into Action Scale. Statistical analyses revealed that males had significantly higher harm reduction acceptability scores than females. Moreover, a significant negative correlation between religious commitment and harm reduction acceptance was found, indicating that stronger religious commitment was linked to lower acceptance of harm reduction. To build on this cross-sectional exploratory study, further research is needed to delve deeper into sex differences in medical students' attitudes and the role of religious commitment in harm reduction. Future studies should explore the direction and causality of these relationships.