Cama Elena, Brener Loren, Wilson Hannah, von Hippel Courtney
a Centre for Social Research in Health , University of New South Wales , Sydney , Australia.
b School of Psychology , University of Queensland , St Lucia , Australia.
Subst Use Misuse. 2016 Oct 14;51(12):1664-1668. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2016.1188951. Epub 2016 Jul 26.
Perceived experiences of stigma have been found to be associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes and engagement in risk practices among people who inject drugs. Yet the extent to which people internalize or accept the stigma surrounding their injecting drug use, and whether this is associated with risky injecting practices, is not well known.
The aim of this study was to assess the extent of internalized stigma among a sample of people who inject drugs in Australia and identify socio-demographic, injecting risk, and mental health correlates.
People who inject drugs were recruited from a needle and syringe program located in Sydney, Australia to complete a brief survey. The survey included measures of internalized stigma, severity of drug dependence, self-esteem, depression, and shared use of injecting equipment.
The sample comprised 102 people who inject drugs. Internalized stigma was higher among participants who reported being depressed in the past month, and was also associated with greater severity of drug dependence and diminished self-esteem. There was no relationship between internalized stigma and shared use of needles or other injecting equipment in the past month. Conclusions/Importance: Findings underscore the need for further investigation of internalized stigma among people who inject drugs. In particular, future research should assess the impact of implicit (i.e., subconscious) internalized stigma on mental health.
在注射吸毒人群中，感知到的耻辱经历已被发现与较差的心理社会结果以及参与危险行为有关。然而，人们内化或接受围绕其注射吸毒的耻辱感的程度，以及这是否与危险的注射行为相关，目前尚不清楚。
本研究的目的是评估澳大利亚注射吸毒人群样本中的内化耻辱程度，并确定社会人口统计学、注射风险和心理健康方面的相关因素。
从澳大利亚悉尼的一个针头和注射器项目中招募注射吸毒者，以完成一份简短的调查问卷。该问卷包括内化耻辱感、药物依赖严重程度、自尊、抑郁以及注射设备共用情况的测量。
样本包括102名注射吸毒者。在过去一个月报告有抑郁症状的参与者中，内化耻辱感更高，并且还与更高的药物依赖严重程度和更低的自尊相关。在过去一个月中，内化耻辱感与针头或其他注射设备的共用情况之间没有关系。结论/重要性：研究结果强调需要进一步调查注射吸毒人群中的内化耻辱感。特别是，未来的研究应该评估隐性（即潜意识的）内化耻辱感对心理健康的影响。
