Stigma Towards Substance use: Comparing Treatment Seeking Alcohol and Opioid Dependent men

Abstract

Despite clinically relevant implications, stigma towards substance users remains an understudied area, especially in developing countries. This study aimed to find the extent of stigma towards substance use reported by substance users attending a de-addiction centre in India. Purposive sampling was used to recruit consenting fifty patients each dependent on alcohol and opioid from a tertiary care hospital in north India. Demographic and clinical details were recorded. The Stigma Scale and the Perceived Stigma of substance Abuse Scale (PSAS) were administered to both the groups to assess stigma. Alcohol dependent subjects reported higher stigma than the opioid dependent subjects on the Stigma Scale (t=3.234, p=0.018). Linear regression showed that duration of dependence, being employed and currently abstinent predicted greater stigma experienced as per the Stigma Scale. Presently being employed and higher per-capita income predicted lower perceived stigma towards substance users as per PSAS. Stigma in substance users remains a major clinical concern, minimizing which can help mitigate negative clinical consequences like delayed treatment seeking and reduced treatment compliance.

Correlates of Self-Stigma among Individuals with Substance Use Problems

“…These findings are in contrast to the role Link et al (1989) described on the integral importance of diagnosis on stigma and previous findings that found higher levels of self-stigma among intravenous over nonintravenous users (Estesam et al 2014;Luoma et al 2007) and lower levels of self-stigma among alcohol over opioid users (Mattoo et al 2015). Unfortunately, there were an insufficient number of participants diagnosed with opioid use disorders in this sample to examine this type of drug administration.…”

“…Duration of alcohol use was associated with one of four components (selfconcurrence) of the Corrigan et al (2011) model of self-stigma (Schomerus et al 2011). In considering type of use, greater self-stigma was reported by intravenous over non-intravenous users in treatment (Estesam et al 2014;Luoma et al 2007), but lower substance use selfstigma was reported in a group of opioid over alcohol users in treatment (Mattoo et al 2015). However, amount or type of substance use may not be alone sufficient to engender the selfstigma process as according to the Modified Labeling Theory of Stigmatization (Link et al 1989), receiving a formal diagnosis (typically rendered upon entering treatment) is an integral part of the stigma process.…”

Access to substance use treatment among young adults who use prescription opioids non-medically

“…Previous analysis of provider-level barriers to accessing treatment among street-involved youth and alcohol-dependent men found perceptions of discrimination by the medical community deter treatment seeking and successful enrollment [44, 53]. Though the small sample size limits inference, this conclusion is not supported by the results of our multivariable analysis.…”

Quality of Life and its Relationship with Perceived Stigma among Opioid Use Disorder Patients: An Exploratory Study

“…This is supported by the findings from a previous study which reported a higher level of perceived stigma among employed patients with SUD. [ 20 ]…”