Niki’s team’s new article presents a pilot study that explores contrasting and converging perspectives on substance use health providers and students. Topics addressed in the study include the enhancement of sociability through substance use and the resistance of dominant substance use stereotypes. Narrative analysis is used to examine participants’ photos, written descriptions, and interviews. Recruitment for the full study is expected to launch in November 2023. Watch here for preliminary findings!

Discussion:

As demands for drug decriminalization continue to increase in Canada, Niki’s team challenges harmful and erroneous assumptions regarding substance use by calling for diverse perspectives in substance use research, policy, and practice.

[Open access] Ausman, C., Brothers, T., Kiepek, N., & Murphy, A. (2023). Socially Situated Experiences of Substance Use: A Photo Elicitation Pilot Study. SAGE Open, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231200360