New article: The affordances of electronic health management systems in the production of structural stigma

A new article led by DruGS team member Emily Lenton addresses the constitutive role of medical records in the production of stigma. Stemming from a research partnership developing novel strategies to address stigma related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections in healthcare services, this new article analyses how the very process of producing medical…

Addressing BBV and STI-related stigma in healthcare: New resources for healthcare services now available

The DruGS team has recently published an implementation guide to support healthcare workers to use the blood-borne viruses (BBV) and sexually transmissible infections (STI) stigma reduction toolkit. In 2022 the team published the practice-ready stigma reduction toolkit designed to be used by individual healthcare professionals and services to tackle stigma and discrimination related to BBVs…

Update: Telehealth for hepatitis C treatment

In early 2021 the Commonwealth Department of Health funded researchers at La Trobe University to conduct a study on telehealth for hepatitis C treatment during COVID-19 Understanding experiences of telehealth care delivery for hepatitis C treatment in Australia. Telehealth has been successful in the treatment of hepatitis C by improving patient access to healthcare, especially…

New articles: Stigma and healthcare access for people who consume drugs

In 2019 the DruGS team completed work on a qualitative interview-based research project on stigma, conducted with South Western Sydney Drug Health Services. Two journal articles were written from the project and have now been published. The first article was recently accepted for publication in Sociology of Health and Illness. Entitled ‘Exclusion and hospitality: The…

Final report published: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination

The DruGS team’s newly published report finds stigma is an important impediment to healthcare access for people exiting inpatient withdrawal management services. You can find a copy of the report here Final report: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination among people accessing South Western Sydney Local Health District Drug Health Services presents findings from interviews…

Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination 

In recently conducted research, investigators have found that consumers of drug treatment and other health services in South Western Sydney experience stigma in a range of forms, and would benefit from more welcoming and supportive service.   SSAC team members Professor Suzanne Fraser and Dr Adrian Farrugia are busy finalising the project report for this…