Socially Situated Experiences of Substance Use: A Photo Elicitation Pilot Study

Niki Kiepek, Christine Ausman, Andrea Murphy and Tommy Brothers

SAGE Open, 2023, vol. 13, issue 3, 21582440231200360

Abstract: Our study was designed to pilot a photo elicitation methodology and undertake preliminary examination of substance use from the perspectives of two potentially disparate groups. Photo elicitation methodology involved participant generated photos and elicitation interviews to purposefully explore (i) how people who use substances depict and discuss their own substance use, and (ii) how professionals who prescribe/dispense pharmaceuticals depict and portray how substances impact the lives’ of patients/clients. Individuals who use substances told “stories of self.†Health providers blended “stories of others†and “stories of social worlds†that indirectly revealed “stories of self.†All participants confronted dominant social perspectives, offering alternative interpretations and challenging such opinions as incomplete or erroneous. The social nature of substances held contrasting perspectives, with health professionals seeing incentives of “fitting in†with “peers using†and a “coping strategy†to reduce social anxiety. Participants who use substances told stories of positive social connections through shared experiences of substance use and increased effects of sociability. Findings may contribute to nuanced understandings to destigmatise and mitigate Othering.

Keywords: photo elicitation; substance use; identity; social worlds; medicalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231200360 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:21582440231200360

DOI: 10.1177/21582440231200360

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().