Stigma and Discrimination in Health-Care Provision to Drug Users: The Role of Values, Affect, and Deservingness Judgments |
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| Authors: | Natalie Skinner N T Feather Toby Freeman Ann Roche |
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| Institution: | National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, and School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia; School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia; National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia |
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| Abstract: | This study examined the role of values, affect, and deservingness judgments in health professionals' views of patients with stigmatized conditions (e.g., drug dependence). Participants were 277 nurses who responded to a survey containing 2 scenarios of a nurse providing high- or low-quality care to a patient with a condition related to prolonged use of alcohol or heroin. Affective responses to the patient were more positive for nurses with higher self-transcendence values, and more negative for nurses with higher conservation values. Deservingness judgments were predicted by positive and negative affect toward the patient, but not by attributions of responsibility for drug use. Deservingness judgments emerged as strong predictors of nurses' satisfaction with the provision of high- or low-quality care. The findings imply that the deservingness judgments made by nurses reflected strong entitlement norms concerning the provision of proper care for patients that were independent of patients' perceived responsibility for their condition. |
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