A recent study found that many health care providers in the U.S. have high levels of stigma against patients with substance use disorders (SUD), which could impact care for people with HIV and those who are vulnerable.
The study, published in Addiction and funded by the National Institutes of Health, surveyed 1,240 primary care doctors, emergency medicine physicians, and dentists to elicit attitudes on patients with three SUDs—opioids, stimulants, and alcohol—as well as type II diabetes, depressive disorder, and HIV. In the questionnaire, participants shared the extent to which they agreed with statements such as “Patients like this are particularly difficult for me to work with” and “I feel especially compassionate toward patients like this.”
Based on the responses, researchers concluded that stigma around the three SUDs was much higher than around diabetes, depression, or HIV, with stigma around stimulants highest of all. Study author Carrigan Parish, Ph.D., D.D.S., an assistant professor in the department of sociomedical sciences at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, told TheBodyPro that she was concerned by the wide gulf in attitudes.
Read the full analysis at TheBodyPro.
Source : TheBodyPro
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