The ReSPect Study - Reducing stigma towards people with issues related to drug use

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Background Stigma is the negative stereotyping of certain groups of people, which leads others to treat them unfairly. Many people who use drugs (PWUD) have health problems and face extreme levels of stigma. They are often treated poorly when they access healthcare and drug treatment services, leading them to delay seeking help in the future. This can make treatment more difficult and expensive, and they are more likely to die. Stigma may also affect policymakers' decisions about how best to manage drug use, forming a barrier to implementing new services that could reduce drug-related harm. Whilst there are campaigns to reduce stigma towards PWUD, at the same time stigma is used as a tool to try and stop people from doing unhealthy things. For example, 'de-normalising' and stigmatising smoking may have led to reduced smoking rates. Whether or not stigmatising PWUD reduces drug use in the wider population, it is necessary to consider if this is justified given the harm it causes.Aims1. Develop messaging interventions to reduce public and professional stigma towards PWUD, to improve wellbeing, increase willingness to access support, and facilitate the introduction of harm reduction interventions.2. Explore how to balance the use of a stigma as a public health tool to discourage drug use with its negative impacts on PWUD.Methods1. I will review existing research on messaging intended to reduce stigma towards PWUD.2. In collaboration with various public health and drug treatment organisations, I will recruit and interview approximately 40 people who work in policy, public health and drug treatment, to explore their attitudes towards PWUD and their views on using stigma to discourage drug use. 3. Two workshops will be organised with academics, policy stakeholders, and PWUD to discuss if and when it is justifiable to use stigma to try and discourage drug use. 4. I will conduct a study exploring the impacts of different types of messaging with 325 members of the public (recruited via a public survey platform), and three groups of professionals - working in policy, public health, and drug treatment (recruited in collaboration with professional organisations and via a public sector newsletter). Participants will be provided either a description of someone who uses drugs without additional information, or one of five descriptions with additional information intended to reduce stigma. They will then answer questions about how they feel about the person, and interventions to keep them safe when they use drugs (harm reduction interventions). A statistical analysis will be performed to see which additional information led to the least stigmatising attitudes, and more support for harm reduction interventions. 5. In collaboration with PWUD, I will develop a series of interventions to reduce stigma for public and professional audiences, including short films, written information, and graphics. Public involvementOften, PWUD are not involved enough in research or decisions about them. To make sure this isn't the case for this research, a group of PWUD, recruited via Bristol's drug treatment service will oversee the project; and PWUD will be invited to the workshops and collaborate in the production of outputs and research papers. Outputs- The short films, written information, and graphics will contribute to a national anti-stigma campaign being organised by drug treatment charities and the NHS.- They will also be shared widely amongst the networks of collaborating public health and advocacy organisations and disseminated alongside training materials for healthcare professionals.- Research findings will be submitted to academic journals and conferences and shared by collaborating organisations on social media and in newsletters.- Following this project, I will look to undertake further research to evaluate the impacts of the messaging.