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Self-Stigma in Substance Abuse: Development of a New Measure
Open accessAbstract
Little attention has been paid to the examination and measurement of self-stigma in substance misuse. This paper aims to fill this gap by reporting on the development of a new scale to measure self-stigma experienced by people who are misusing substances, the Substance Abuse Self-Stigma Scale. Content validity and item refinement occurred through an iterative process involving a literature search, focus groups, and expert judges. Psychometric properties were examined in a cross-sectional study of individuals (n = 352) receiving treatment for substance misuse. Factor analyses resulted in a 40-item measure with self devaluation, fear of enacted stigma, stigma avoidance, and values disengagement subscales. The measure showed a strong factor structure and good reliability and validity overall, though the values disengagement subscale showed a mixed pattern. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for studies of stigma impact and intervention.
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“We measured substance use stigma by summing 12 items from the Substance Abuse Self-Stigma Scale (SASSS).23”
From An acceptance-based, intersectional stigma coping intervention for people with HIV who inject drugs—a randomized clinical trial (2023) · cites this paper as [23]
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Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Luoma, J. B., Nobles, R. H., Drake, C. E., Hayes, S. C., O’Hair, A., Fletcher, L., & Kohlenberg, B. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Nevada, Reno (US)
- Corresponding author
- Luoma, Jason B.
- Venue
- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
- Published
- 2012-10-09
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 223-234
- ISSN
- 0164-0305 (ISSN-L)
- 0882-2689
- 1573-3505
- PMC
- PMC3680138
- OpenAlex
- W1985432220
- Cited by
- 150
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 1.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R21DA017644)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Keywords
- self-stigma, substance abuse, scale development, stigma measurement, self-devaluation, stigma avoidance, addiction treatment
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