Browsing by Author "Stout, Joshua H."
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Item Stigmatized Bereavement: A Qualitative Study on the Impacts of Stigma for Those Bereaved by a Drug-Related Death(OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 2023-09-19) Stout, Joshua H.; Fleury-Steiner, BenjaminResearch has given limited attention to family and friends bereaved by a drug-overdose death. To examine the ways in which stigma may uniquely impact the grieving processes of the bereaved, a thematic analysis of 35 semistructured in-depth interviews with family members and adult peers who lost a loved one to an overdose was conducted. Our findings demonstrate that the bereaved experience stigmatization after their loss. Specifically, respondents emphasized stigmatizing interactions with law enforcement, alienation from friends and family, a lack of social support, exchanges that enforced feeling rules, and being confronted by narratives of blame and individual choice as contributing to the degrees of stigmatization they experienced. Our findings highlight how bereavement becomes stigmatized to varying degrees through multiple interactions that have a compounding effect on mourners. We refer to this process as stigmatized bereavement, whereby the frequency of such interactions informs the degree of stigmatization the bereaved faces.Item The impact of stigma on family and friends bereaved by a drug overdose death(University of Delaware, 2022) Stout, Joshua H.As the opioid epidemic has crashed through the American landscape, the immense loss of life has drawn attention to a host of issues related to the causes and consequences of this epidemic. However, limited focus has been given to those in mourning following the loss of a loved one to a fatal overdose. This study explores how stigma impacts the mourning and help-seeking of those bereaved by a drug overdose death. To explore this issue, thirty-five in-depth interviews were conducted with friends, family members, and partners of those who lost a loved one to an overdose. Qualitative analysis of survivors’ accounts reveals varying degrees of stigmatization that differs in terms of context. At the institutional level, survivors recalled experiencing stigma in the denial of treatment prior to their loved one’s death. Survivors also describe mistreatment by law enforcement. Most reported were stigmatizing experiences of alienation, blame, and isolation by family and friends. Perhaps most important are survivors’ accounts of help-seeking. Participation in drug death specific help-seeking (12-Step Fellowship and secular recovery support groups) is described as cultivating safe spaces that foster community and belonging. Survivors who serve in advocacy leadership roles and other support group roles describe a process of negotiating stigmatized bereavement through positive agentic experiences (e.g., acceptance through helping others). Other survivors who are less active in help-seeking activities describe varying degrees of unspoiling identity (e.g., support to share honestly about their loved one’s drug overdose death). The implications of these findings highlight both the importance of expanding access to survivor support groups in marginalized communities most impacted by the opioid epidemic and addressing their stigmatized grief.