Correlates of Perceived Discrimination Related to Substance Use Disorders Among Patients in Methadone Maintenance Treatment

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Publication Title

Journal of psychoactive drugs

Abstract

This study sought to examine demographic, treatment-related, and diagnosis-related correlates of substance use disorder (SUD)-related perceived discrimination among patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Participants were 164 patients at nonprofit, low-barrier-to-treatment-access MMT programs. Participants completed measures of demographics, diagnosis-related characteristics (Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) and Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ)), and treatment-related characteristics. Perceived discrimination was measured on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ("Not at all") to 7 ("Extremely") in response to the item: "I often feel discriminated against because of my substance abuse." Given the variable's distribution, a median split was used to categorize participants into "high" and "low" discrimination groups. Correlates of high and low discrimination were analyzed with bivariate and logistic regression models. Ninety-four participants (57%) reported high SUD-related perceived discrimination. Bivariate analyses identified six statistically significant correlates of SUD-related perceived discrimination (

Volume

56

Issue

4

First Page

530

Last Page

540

DOI

10.1080/02791072.2023.2230571

ISSN

2159-9777

PubMed ID

37399330

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