Summary
In their article, Stigma Predicts Residential Treatment Length for Substance Use Disorder, Luoma et al. (2014) examine the relationship between baseline stigma variables and the length of treatment stay among residential treatment patients of substance use disorder. The article explores various previous research on the subject matter. The authors note that past studies indicate SUD patients that stay long enough under treatment are more likely to abstain from drug relapse after treatment. However, they note the lack of research on the impact of stigma on the treatment attrition. The authors established that investigating attrition predictors was equally important. The current study focused specifically on the different stigma aspects, i.e. enacted stigma, shame, and self-stigma. Besides secondary data analysis, Luoma et al. (2014) examine data from 103 patients in a residential substance abuse treatment unit. The study used a 32-item questionnaire to obtain the patients’ background and demographic information. It used SPSS 20.0 multiple imputation procedure in line with the Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to analyze the participants’ data.
Luoma et al. (2014) found that there is a positive relationship between self-stigma and the length of stay in a residential treatment unit. According to their findings, higher self-stigma translated into loner stay in the residential treatment for drug addiction. However, other stigma variables: stigma-related rejection and internalized shame do not predict the length of stay in a residential treatment unit for addiction. According to the article, the current findings are consistent with previous research. The research study reliably concluded that patients having higher self-stigma tend to have a low sense of self-efficacy. Furthermore, the patients have intensified fear of being stigmatized. Hence, they prefer residential treatment settings because they are more protected. However, the implication is that the prolonged stay in the residential treatment unit leads to higher costs of treatment.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The usefulness of the Article to Aspiring Social Worker
Social workers play a critical role in promoting the patient’s sustenance of treatment interventions. Luoma et al. (2014) are highly useful for aspiring social workers. It provides social workers with information on the importance of sustained treatment for substance use disorder patients. While the authors acknowledge that, there is a high attrition rate among SUD patients, social workers have a clear role to play in enhancing the effectiveness of the treatment approach. The article provides aspiring social workers with some of the patient characteristics that they should pay attention to while designing the treatment intervention for their SUD patients. These patient characteristics include racial minority status, lower psychological functioning, female gender, lower socioeconomic status (SES), marital status, age, and lower social support levels.
Generally, stigma is considered a society-driven perception. However, the Luoma et al. (2014) article provides aspiring social workers with an elaborate description of stigma. The publication highlights that stigma comes in different types, including enacted, perceived, public, and self-stigma. Besides giving definitions for these types of stigma, Luoma et al. (2014) inform aspiring social workers about the form of stigma that deserves utmost attention, as it is inherent with the patient. The article notes that self-stigma is critical to attrition and therefore aspiring social workers should be prepared to create a specialized treatment approach that aligns with the individual needs of the patient. In other words, Luoma et al. (2014) inform the aspiring social workers about the importance of patient-engagement in establishing an effective treatment intervention. Indeed, as the article implies, patient engagement that the social workers could understand the underlying factors that could influence the development of self-stigma and attrition among SUD patients.
Contribution to the Field of Social Work
The Luoma et al. (2014) research study is relevant to the field of social work. The article highlights the necessity of specialized clinical interventions in the treatment of substance abuse disorder. The work’s findings illustrate that formulating and implementing patient-centred approaches could help patients cope with lowered self-efficacy. Essentially, as the article indicates, specialized treatment interventions would assist patients seeking treatment for drug abuse disorder deal with the fear of being stigmatized. In this case, the research study is instrumental because it demonstrates that patients have unique challenges that should be handled on an individual basis. A universal treatment approach may not achieve the desired outcome. Therefore, as the article implies, social workers should come up with tailor-made treatment interventions than adequately address the individual needs of the patient. Besides, the current study presents the importance of context in reviewing the impact of stigma in health outcomes. Luoma et al. (2014) found that context is crucial since stigma could discourage initial drug use while sometimes promoting continued substance use in the event of drug-using culture that enforces out-group or in-group status.
Limitations in the Current Research Study
In the current study, Luoma et al. (2014) recognized that the findings of the research should be interpreted in the context of the limitations encountered in the study. While previous research indicated substance use severity variables were significant in predicting attrition for treatment, they were not included as a covariate in the Luoma et al. (2014) analysis. Another limitation noted in the study is the comparatively small sample size relative to the number of predictors. The smaller sample is recognized as a cause for less reliable parameter estimates, therefore less power compared to what could have been realized while using a larger sample size. However, as a key strength, Luoma et al. (2014) included the control variable, perceived social support, which helped dispel the hypothesis that lack of social support necessitated longer residential treatment stay.
References
Louma, J. B., Kulesza, M., Hayes, S. C., Kohlenberg, B., & Larimer, M. (2014). Stigma predicts residential treatment length for substance use disorder. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 40 (3): 206-212.
