IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i9p1189-d1473055.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Impact of Stigma on Health and Wellbeing: Insights from Mothers with Lived Experience Accessing Recovery Services

Author

Listed:
  • Lydia Lochhead

    (Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7XA, UK)

  • Michelle Addison

    (Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Health, Durham University, Durham DH1 3HN, UK)

  • John Cavener

    (Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7XA, UK)

  • Steph Scott

    (Population Health Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AX, UK)

  • William McGovern

    (Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7XA, UK)

Abstract

Stigmatisation is the process by which an individual is devalued based on their attributes, characteristics, and/or behaviour, with this often leading to prejudice, social and health-related harms, active discrimination, and microaggressions. The aim of this paper is to show how social harms can occur and how stigma is damaging to the health and wellbeing of a person in recovery. To do so, we focus on the harms that arise from the internalisation of labels that mothers who use drugs encounter in a treatment and recovery setting whilst in active recovery, and how this stigmatisation can manifest negative self-beliefs. Qualitative data was used from two semi-structured focus groups involving females with lived experience of substance use ( n = 13). A reflexive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the interview transcripts, and three themes were identified: (1) the enduring nature of stigma; (2) gender disparity and the need for mothers- and women-only spaces; and (3) stigma as a barrier to services and wellbeing. Findings revealed the enduring nature of stigma amongst mothers who were in active recovery, with women feeling judged more harshly than men and experiencing pressure to live up to a “good mother” ideal whilst in recovery. This paper demonstrates that mothers in recovery are still stigmatised and, as a consequence, approach services with increased sensitivity, with stigma often resulting in disengagement or reluctance to access healthcare settings. We conclude that staff in health, social, and primary care settings need to develop a strong therapeutic alliance with mothers in recovery and promote anti-stigma approaches in their practice, in order to mitigate stigma and reduce harms to health and wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Lydia Lochhead & Michelle Addison & John Cavener & Steph Scott & William McGovern, 2024. "Exploring the Impact of Stigma on Health and Wellbeing: Insights from Mothers with Lived Experience Accessing Recovery Services," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(9), pages 1-12, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1189-:d:1473055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1189/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1189/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew Sayer, 2002. "What are you Worth?: Why Class is an Embarrassing Subject," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 7(3), pages 19-35, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew Leyshon & Dawn Burton & David Knights & Catrina Alferoff & Paola Signoretta, 2004. "Towards an Ecology of Retail Financial Services: Understanding the Persistence of Door-to-Door Credit and Insurance Providers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(4), pages 625-645, April.
    2. Jo Forster & Margaret Petrie & Jim Crowther, 2018. "Deindustrialisation, Community, and Adult Education: The North East England Experience," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Paul Watt, 2006. "Respectability, Roughness and ‘Race’: Neighbourhood Place Images and the Making of Working‐Class Social Distinctions in London," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 776-797, December.
    4. Stacey Pope, 2015. "‘It's Just Such a Class Thing’: Rivalry and Class Distinction between Female Fans of Men's Football and Rugby Union," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(2), pages 145-158, May.
    5. Bouzarovski, Stefan & Simcock, Neil, 2017. "Spatializing energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 640-648.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1189-:d:1473055. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.