ORN Spring 2022 #3 - Drugs, Stigma, and Health-Event Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this webinar, Dr. Robin Polini discusses the topic of drug stigma and its impact on access to healthcare services for people who use drugs. She highlights different types of stigma, including individual, institutional, internalized, and stigma through association, and explains how stigma around drug use is socially constructed and can be deconstructed. Dr. Polini emphasizes the negative ways in which drug addiction is stigmatized, such as fear and social distancing from drug users, and how stigma can prevent people from seeking healthcare and receiving evidence-based treatments for substance use disorders. She shares quotes from interviews with people who inject drugs to illustrate their experiences of stigma in different healthcare settings, and how stigma contributes to delayed seeking of care or avoidance of care altogether. Dr. Polini also discusses the importance of language and using person-first language to reduce stigma. She presents a research study that demonstrates the impact of language on attitudes and judgments towards people with substance use disorders. Additionally, Dr. Polini highlights the need for empathy and understanding towards people who use drugs, as well as the importance of addressing stigma at both individual and systemic levels. She concludes by suggesting practical steps that can be taken to address stigma, such as adopting person-first language and cultivating empathy. The webinar was held as part of a six-hour series on the treatment of opioid use disorder and stimulant use disorders. Dr. Polini is a substance abuse and infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on mitigating the adverse impacts of injection drug use. She has been a principal investigator of several grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Keywords

webinar

drug stigma

access to healthcare services

types of stigma

socially constructed

drug addiction

healthcare settings

person-first language

addressing stigma