eLearning - Stigma, Discrimination and Injecting Drug Use

HETI eLearning Module for NSW Health Staff

Are you aware that 80% of PWID have experienced a discrimination in health care settings. A 40-minute HETI eLearning module, Stigma, Discrimination & Injecting Drug Use, is available for NSW Health staff, that provides insights and interactive discussion around attitudes and behaviours toward people who inject drugs, with the aim to improve their health outcomes and experiences within health care settings.

NSW Health staff can access the module at HETI online.

What we know

People who inject drugs (PWID) encounter stigma and discrimination within health care settings and across the community. This may have a negative impact on their:

willingness to access medical assistance for future or ongoing treatment of health conditions
ability to receive quality therapeutic care and treatment from a broad range of health practitioners
motivation to disclose their status of drug use, a history of injecting, or associated medical conditions.

Consultation

The module was jointly developed by HETI, the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL), NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA) and NSW Ministry of Health. Other key stakeholders included Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network, the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council (AH&MRC) and Harm Reduction Victoria. The module is based on an existing training program, ‘Putting together the Puzzle’ developed by AIVL.

Evaluation

The module will be evaluated by the Centre for Social Research in Health, University of NSW, to determine reach and effectiveness.

The module is currently only available to NSW Health staff with work underway to enable the module to be more broadly available to non-NSW Health workforces, such as general practitioners, pharmacists and non-government organisations.