Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 4:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Substance Abuse

Perception of Discrimination, Coping and Substance Use

Purpose: The current analyses focus on the relationship between perception of discrimination, coping strategies for discrimination and substance use among African Origin men.

Methods: Subjects were participants in the African Men In Recovery (AMIR) project. AMIR clients were of African Origin, 18 years or older, at risk for HIV/AIDS, and able to receive outpatient services. The goal of the AMIR project was to provide culturally competent service delivery for effective outreach, engagement, and retention of African Origin men who were abusing substances and at risk for HIV infection. One hundred and fifty-five baseline, 73 six-month and 122 twelve-month assessments were completed. Instruments assessing perceived discrimination from a variety of sources, emotional responses to discrimination, coping strategies for discrimination and past 30-day substance use were administered at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Data analyses included baseline frequencies for sources of discrimination and coping strategies, correlations between baseline measures of coping strategies and sources of discrimination, and repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) for evaluating the relationship of coping strategies to baseline and twelve-month substance use measures.

Results: At baseline, the most commonly identified sources of discrimination were police (41.9%), criminal justice system (38.9%), job (36.7%), and community/ neighborhood (30.7%). The most commonly cited coping strategies for discrimination included praying/meditating (69%), forgiving (67%), accepting (64.6%), and using drugs/alcohol (60%). Correlations between baseline measures of coping and sources of discrimination revealed significant relationships (á = .05) for the praying/meditating coping strategy with community/neighborhood (r = .209), family (r = .178), police (r = .178), and criminal justice system discrimination (r = .182). The physically aggressive coping strategy was correlated with job (r = .209), police (r = .194) and criminal justice system discrimination (r = .202). The use of drugs/alcohol as a coping strategy was correlated with job (.172), police (r = .245) and criminal justice discrimination (r = .190). Significant differences emerged (á = .05) with respect to coping strategies and baseline and twelve-month measures of substance use. Subjects who did not use a praying/meditating coping strategy in response to discrimination reported an increased mean number of alcohol use and alcohol use to intoxication days when compared to those using this strategy. Subjects using ignoring/avoiding coping strategies reported an increased mean number of alcohol use to intoxication days in comparison to those who did not. A physically aggressive coping strategy was associated with a decreased mean number of marijuana use days.

Implications for Practice: The current analysis highlights the importance of addressing issues of discrimination and coping strategies for discrimination in a culturally competent substance abuse treatment program. The inclusion of issues of discrimination in substance abuse treatment programs for African Origin men can be used to promote healthy coping strategies (e.g. spirituality) and to discourage harmful coping strategies, enhancing clients' readjustment to community life.

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