About This Project

The stigma of substance use disorder (SUD) may be as harmful as the disorder itself. Strategic disclosure is one way to help people deal with SUD stigma. Honest, Open, Proud (HOP) is an evidence-based approach to promoting strategic disclosure. The purpose of this project is to conduct community based participatory research (CBPR) to adapt HOP for SUD. CBPR is a prominent approach to public health that engages people with SUD in all phases of program development and evaluation.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

A National Academy of Science report (2016) concludes that the stigma of substance use disorders (SUD) may be as harmful as the disorder itself. People with SUDs are less likely to engage in treatment to avoid the stigma associated with it (Corrigan et al., 2017a,b). This may be especially worse as America struggles with its opioid crisis. Strategic disclosure is an essential element in dealing with the stigma of SUD (Corrigan & Rao, 2012). Honest, Open, Proud (HOP) is a three-step program developed by people with mental illness to address their stigma: (1) consider pros and cons of disclosing, (2) learn safe ways to disclose, and (3) craft one’s personal disclosure story. The goal of the proposed study is to develop HOP for people with SUD.

What is the significance of this project?

HOP has been adapted for other conditions including people with Tourette’s Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disorder. Each adaptation is conducted as community-based participatory research (CBPR). CBPR, a prominent approach to program development and evaluation in public health, is a partnership between scientists and people within the community of concern: e.g., people challenged by SUD. This group is typically people from low SES who have been challenged by homelessness and/or incarceration. Scientists and people with lived experience work together to complete the goals of a project; in this case, adapting HOP for people with SUD. The CBPR team does this through an iterative process, adapting the original HOP program based on focus group feedback from the SUD community.

What are the goals of the project?

Over a one year period, we will use resources from the funded proposal to recruit a CBPR team of people with SUD (people challenged by different substances [alcohol, opioids, crack] currently or in the past). The CBPR team also includes services researchers and administrative support. Through qualitative research, the CBPR team will develop an interview guide to conduct focus groups with people with lived experience. Findings from these groups will be used to adapt the three part structure of HOP. We use a CBPR process developed previously by our group (Sheehan, Ballentine et al. 2015).