Stigma, substance use, and help-seeking attitudes among rural and urban individuals.

Abstract

The current study examined the differences between public stigma, self-stigma, substance use (i.e., alcohol and/or drugs), and attitudes toward psychological help-seeking among rural and urban individuals, and found meaningful differences in public stigma by alcohol use. Two hundred and sixty participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk completed an online survey that included the Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Help scale, the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help scale, the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional PsychologicalHelp scale, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the Drug Abuse Screening Test -10, and demographics. The authors found significant between-group differences in public stigma for individuals who screened positive for an alcohol use disorder compared to those who used alcohol but did not meet the screening threshold. This finding suggested that there may be differences in stigmatization between individuals who only occasionally use alcohol and those with an alcohol use disorder. There were no significant differences in self-stigma or attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. Moreover, there were no significant between-group differences based on DAST-10 scores for individuals who did not report drug use, individuals who reported using drugs, and those who screened positive for a substance use disorder on public stigma, self-stigma, or attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, the results did not demonstrate any significant differences between public stigma, self-stigma, or attitudes toward psychological help-seeking based on rurality (i.e., rural or urban). STIGMA, SUBSTANCE USE, AND HELP-SEEKING 2The authors highlight areas for future research focus and considerations when further examining stigma, substance use, and help-seeking attitudes among rural and urban individuals.

“My Daughter Is a Drug Addict, and...”: A Clinical Perspective of Maternal Grandparents’ Assumption of Parental Roles for the Children of Their Drug Addicted Daughters

“…A confounding challenge for the specific group under observation relates to the rural nature of the group participants' community. While rural communities have a tendency to support their members through challenging times, the rural context, at the same time, removes some of the anonymity commonly associated with service delivery in urban settings (Dschaak & Juntunen, 2018;Hann-Morrison, 2003;Hann-Morrison, 2011). Grandparents reported feeling "exposed", and that their highly intimate family challenges were open for the entire community's scrutiny.…”

“…Sessions were held during the day time (late morning 10:30 to noon), and a boxed lunch was provided as part of the weekly session. The clinician deliberately chose the church setting as a mechanism to capitalize on an institution held dear to both African Americans and to rural people (Dschaak & Juntunen, 2018;Hann-Morrison, 2003;Hann-Morrison, 2011).…”

“…Additionally, the clinician believed the setting would allay some of the stigma that continues to persist among African Americans regarding seeking mental health services (Dschaak & Juntunen, 2018;Fripp & Carlson, 2017).…”

Social Stigma toward Persons with Opioid Use Disorder: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey of U.S. Adults

“…While, medications for addiction treatment (MAT), such as methadone and buprenorphine, have been successful at reducing the likelihood of illicit opioid use and opioid-involved overdose ( Marsden et al, 2017 ; Mattick et al, 2014 ; Sordo et al, 2017 ), there are significant barriers to the dissemination and adoption of evidence-based treatment ( Glasgow et al, 2006 ). Specifically, there is growing evidence of the strong correlations between stigma and challenges accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) ( Brown et al, 2010 ; Dschaak & Juntunen, 2018 ; Luoma et al, 2014 ; Wakeman & Rich, 2018 ). The extent to which these local findings reflect national-level stigma patterns or exhibit geographic variability remains unclear.…”

Editor’s introduction.

“…The fourth article is by Dschaak and Juntunen (2018). In "Stigma, substance use, and help-seeking attitudes among rural and urban individuals," the authors used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to recruit participants who completed a variety of measures related to stigma, help seeking, and substance abuse.…”