Drug consumption stigma and patient legitimacy: experiences of people who use drugs seeking care for chronic non-cancer pain in Nigeria.

This study explored how people who use drugs (PWUD) experience and respond to stigma in biomedical chronic non-cancer pain management. Thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with PWUD (n = 26) who had sought care for chronic non-cancer pain in public hospitals in Uyo, Nigeria, drew on the idea of...

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Publicado en:Health Sociology Review Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 156 - 171
Autor principal: Nelson, Ediomo-Ubong
Formato: research Journal Article
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jul2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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        10.1080/14461242.2024.2413058
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        atl: Drug consumption stigma and patient legitimacy: experiences of people who use drugs seeking care for chronic non-cancer pain in Nigeria.
      aug:
        au: Nelson, Ediomo-Ubong
        affil: Global Drug Policy Observatory, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
      sug:
        subj:
          Chronic Pain Drug Therapy
          Stigma
          Patient Attitudes Evaluation
          Substance Abuse
          Analgesics, Opioid
          Nigeria
          Human
          Descriptive Statistics
          Thematic Analysis
          Conceptual Framework
          Qualitative Studies
          Exploratory Research
          Semi-Structured Interview
          Pain Management
          Human Rights
          Health Care Delivery
          Open-Ended Questionnaires
          Audiorecording
      ab: This study explored how people who use drugs (PWUD) experience and respond to stigma in biomedical chronic non-cancer pain management. Thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with PWUD (n = 26) who had sought care for chronic non-cancer pain in public hospitals in Uyo, Nigeria, drew on the idea of stigma as process of social reproduction and the concept of borderwork. Accounts framed stigma as a normalised feature of healthcare that emerged under different circumstances and operated to position chronic non-cancer pain patients who were PWUD as illegitimate subjects underserving of care. Stigma was widely seen as something to be expected, and was often tolerated by PWUD due to its ubiquity. However, they enacted borderwork marking-off stigma experiences that violated values of fairness and humaneness as well as those that spurned traditional gender norms. Participants responded to intolerable stigma through various acts of resistance, including dropping out of care. Stigma creates barriers to adequate pain management and establishes a context where basic care is accessed at the cost of fundamental human rights and dignity. Routine toleration of stigma helps to naturalise the phenomenon and render it invisible. Resistance to stigma provides a basis for interventions to address all forms of stigma in healthcare.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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