Services, Doncaster. Aspire is a partnership
organisation set up by RotherhamDoncaster and
South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) and
registered charity The Alcohol & Drug Service
(ADS). Aspire works in partnership with the
Doncaster hepatitis C nursing service.
Sarah Bartle, a senior drug and alcohol nurse
practitioner at Aspire tells us more about her
experience with service users experiencing
stigma and what measures Aspire have in place
to combat this:
There is a strong social stigma attached to both
drug misuse and hepatitis C. Our service users
often have felt, or still feel, marginalised by
society and this judgement can be a barrier to
accessing services. To work towards combatting
this in our area, we have a number of strategies
in place to increase both awareness and
understanding of hepatitis C and to remove the
stigma associated with the virus:
•
Providing education, in a supportive way,
to increase knowledge about hepatitis C
risk factors
•
Offering opportunistic testing using a variety
of approaches and contingency management
•
Increasing understanding about care options
using visible recovery and support groups
•
Offering services in a non-judgemental
manner, which serve to tackle shame and
guilt behaviours
The first contact and engagement with services is
critical to a successful outcome. We run a
specialist needle exchange and a comprehensive
training programme for dispensers, upskilling
them on how to provide advice and information
to users accessing the exchange.
Practical ways to help people overcome stigma
and make services more approachable include:
BEING OPEN AND APPROACHABLE
You can help a person overcome stigma
by establishing an open relationship, built
on trust and respect.
CONSIDERING A HOLISTIC APPROACH
TO TREATMENT
Our service focuses on helping people recover so
they can successfully lead fulfilling, independent
lives within their communities, free from stigma.
I find that through offering education on all
areas of health, as well as additional support
services, such as bus passes and gym member-
ships, our users are encouraged to reconnect with
society, feel less marginalised by the community
and start to feel they are worth care.
My main advice is, don’t give up on someone.
For more information on the Aspire service,
which offers a full suite of recovery-orientated
interventions and opportunities for people
struggling with any form of substance misuse,
visit
References
1
PHE.
Hepatitis C in the UK
. 2015/2014
2
Marinho
et al
.
Hepatitis C, stigma and cure
. 2013
3
HCV Advocate.
A guide to stigma and hepatitis C
. 2014
4
Treloar C
et al
.
Understanding Barriers to Hepatitis C
Virus.
2013
5
LJWG.
Tackling the problem of hepatitis C
6
PHE.
Improving access to, and completion of, hepatitis C
treatment
. 2015
May 2016 HCV/UK/16-03/CI/1335b
June 2016 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 11
Promotional feature
Supporting people infected with hepatitis C presents distinct challenges.
An understanding of existing barriers to hepatitis C care is important to
help empower people with the virus to access help.
stigma:
hEpatitis c and
drug misusE
‘our users
are
encouraged
to reconnect
with society,
feel less
marginalised
by the
community
and start to
feel they are
worth care.’
Hepatitis C affects thousands of people in the
UK. Despite the availability of effective
treatment options for hepatitis C, the rate of
treatment for the virus in people who inject
drugs is extremely low.
1
If left untreated,
hepatitis C can cause serious or potentially life
threatening complications.
Barriers and challenges that prevent people
with hepatitis C from accessing care range from:
•
Personal barriers, such as low awareness
about the seriousness of hepatitis C and care
options available
•
Environmental barriers like suitable services
for people dealing with addiction issues
•
Social barriers such as the stigma that people
with hepatitis C face
UNDERSTANDING STIGMA
Injecting drug use remains the most important
risk factor for hepatitis C infection in the UK; as
such, people are frequently blamed for con-
tracting the virus and viewed as ‘irresponsible’
and ‘unworthy’.
1,2
Former or current injecting
drug users may carry the burden of being
stigmatised for both hepatitis C and addiction.
3
This double stigmatisation may cause people
living with the virus to refuse or avoid testing,
treatment and care, as well as not disclose their
hepatitis C status to friends and family.
4
IN PRACTICE
Effective care delivered in the context of inte-
grated and supportive care services can play an
important role in helping people with hepatitis C
to overcome stigma.
5
It has been shown that
treating health problems such as hepatitis C can
also support recovery from drug dependence.
6
An example of this is Aspire Drug and Alcohol
In response to many of these issues, the
I’m Worth…
campaign has been created to support people living with
hepatitis C. It aims to address the stigma that many people
with hepatitis C face, encouraging and empowering people
living with hepatitis C to access care and services, no
matter how or when they were infected.
The
I’m Worth…
campaign is a disease awareness
programme that has been developed and paid for by
Gilead Sciences Ltd, a science-based pharmaceutical
company. Content development has been supported by
input from numerous patient groups with an interest in
hepatitis C in the UK. Individual contributors are speaking
from their personal experience.
EvEryonE
is worth
thE bEst carE
For more information and to access materials designed to support people living with hepatitis C please visit
