Nicotine - Stigma: Difference between revisions

*Stigmatizing smoking has been at the heart of tobacco control efforts for decades, which may drive more people to quit but at the same time potentially create new difficulties for smokers, including self-isolation, creation of social groups that might become ‘hardened’ to changing smoking behaviors, and perceptions by the user and society that complete abstinence is the only option. The stigma associated with a wide variety of behaviors has impeded progress toward improving population health in some cases, such as the reticence in making products and services available that could reduce the risk of communicable disease (eg needle exchanges), as well as harm reduction products that could benefit users and society when an individual addicted to a substance is not able to or chooses not to become completely abstinent (eg NRT, ENDS, smokeless tobacco). This presentation will explore some of the conflicting aspects of stigma in tobacco control, explore similarities and differences regarding the stigma of using of different addicting substances, and consider some research, practice and policy directions.

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===2022: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9086928/ What low-income smokers have learned from public health pedagogy: A narrative inquiry]===

*Frohlich et al and others have suggested that public health educational messages may have the unintended consequence of marginalizing low-income smokers and unintentionally contributing to health disparities. Our study participants also point to healthcare professionals as an important group who may be contributing to these feelings. With this in mind, efforts to educate healthcare providers on how their actions may be perceived as judgmental or lacking in compassion about the effects of nicotine withdrawal are warranted.  

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