Drug-related stigma among people who inject drugs - development and validation of the drug use stigma scale (DUSS).

ABSTRACT: Drug use is a highly stigmatized behavior, and drug-related stigma is a key driver of behavioral risk, lower health care utilization, and associated adverse health outcomes among people who inject drugs (PWID). While instruments exist for measuring drug-related stigma, their applicability to community-based PWID across multiple stigma types (enacted, anticipated, internalized) and settings (health care, society, family) is limited, as most were developed using treatment-based samples and all were developed in urban populations. This study sought to develop a Drug Use Stigma Scale (DUSS) that addresses these limitations. We developed an initial list of 39 items based on literature review and qualitative interviews (N = 27) and three focus groups (N = 28) with PWID recruited from syringe ser

SUBMITTER: Pollini RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12700462 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature