Voices of recovery: an exploration of stigma experienced by college students in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction through photovoice
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Kelly Moore Spencer (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- James Benshoff
Abstract: Researchers have estimated that on any given college campus, 4% of students are in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction (Harris, Baker, & Thompson, 2005). Over the past several years, Collegiate Recovery Programs (CRPs) and Collegiate Recovery Communities (CRCs) have started to become more widespread, focusing on the welfare of those students who identify as being in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction. Despite the growing number of CRPs/CRCs in the country, many students have reported that the negative stigma associated with substance use disorders (SUDs) has stopped them from utilizing these recovery-based services (Mackert, Mabry, Hubbard, Grahovac, & Holleran Steiker, 2014). Although this statement has not yet been supported by empirical evidence, the effects of stigma on students seeking mental health services have been demonstrated. In fact, stigma has been identified as one of the greatest barriers to seeking mental health services for college students (Martin, 2010). It is also noteworthy that several studies have shown that substance use disorders are viewed as more stigmatized than any other mental health disorder (Corrigan, Kuwabara, & O’Shaughnessy, 2009; Livingston, Milne, Fang, & Amari, 2011; Room, 2005; Schomerus et al., 2011). The purpose of this study was to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the stigma experienced by college students in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction. The researcher conducted a qualitative research study using Photovoice methodology to gain an in-depth, foundational understanding of how stigma was experienced by the participants involved in the study. Wang and Burris (1997), the founders of Photovoice, stated that this approach may be “particularly powerful for . . . people with socially stigmatized health conditions or status” (p. 370). Participants in this study included undergraduate college students who self-identified as being in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction. They were asked to take photographs that represented their experiences of stigma and to answer questions related to the portrayal of these experiences. The participants then shared and discussed these photographs in a focus group. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data. Participants identified several common themes that were present in both the focus group discussions and the photographs. These themes were then placed into categories and mapped onto Frost’s (2011) model of social stigma in order to create a conceptual framework for understanding how college students in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction experience stigma. The categories include: sources of stigma, experiences of stigma, consequences of stigma, coping and support strategies and intersectionality. Finally, implications for practice and research are discussed.
Voices of recovery: an exploration of stigma experienced by college students in recovery from alcohol and/or other drug addiction through photovoice
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Created on 12/1/2017
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2017
- Keywords
- Addiction, Collegiate Recovery, Photovoice, Qualitative Research, Recovery, sStigma
- Subjects
- College student $x Mental health
- Recovering addicts
- Alcoholism
- Drug addiction
- Stigma (Social psychology)