Recovery, Identity, Resistance: Exploring Substance Use Stigma in Rural Ontario

ABSTRACTAlthough much attention focuses on mental health recovery and stigma, less attention is paid to substance use especially in rural areas. This qualitative study draws on Foucauldian and intersectional approaches to examine the sociocultural processes by which stigmatized identities are constructed and rejected at micro and macro levels. A thematic analysis is applied to 40 interviews with people with substance use issues in two rural communities. Findings illustrate that stigma is constructed through binary identity categories and intersectional identities rooted in neoliberal contexts. Resistance is demonstrated at personal, peer, public, and structural levels, offering counter narratives of strength and resilience.KEYWORDS: Recoverystigmasubstance useresistancerural Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementData available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictionsEthics approvalThis work was approved on November 21, 2018 by the University of Toronto Research Ethics Board for Human Participants. RIS Human Protocol Number 36,833 and Protocol #11319.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Grant 752-2016-1135.