Canadian newspaper coverage on harm reduction featuring bereaved mothers: A mixed methods analysis.

A growing body of evidence suggests that news media which includes a sympathetic portrayal of a mother bereaved by substance use can increase public support for harm reduction initiatives. However, the extent to which such news media coverage occurs in Canada is unknown, and research has not documented how the news media in Canada covers such stories. We undertook a mixed-method secondary analyses of 5681 Canadian newspaper articles on harm reduction (2000-2016). Quantitative analyses described the volume and content of harm reduction reporting featuring a mother whose child's death was related to substance use while qualitative thematic analysis provided in-depth descriptions of the discourses underlying such news reporting. Newspaper articles featuring a mother whose child's death was related to substance use were rarely published (n = 63; 1.1% of total harm reduction media coverage during the study period). Deductive content analysis of these 63 texts revealed that coverage of naloxone distribution (42.9%) and supervised drug consumption services (28.6%) were prioritized over other harm reduction services. Although harm reduction (services or policies) were advocated by the mother in most (77.8%) of these 63 texts, inductive thematic analysis of a subset (n = 52) of those articles revealed that mothers' advocacy was diminished by newspaper reporting that emphasized their experiences of grief, prioritized individual biographies over structural factors contributing to substance use harms, and created rhetorical divisions between different groups of people who use drugs (PWUD). Bereaved mothers' advocacy in support of harm reduction programs and services may be minimized in the process of reporting their stories for newspaper readers. Finding ways to report bereaved mothers' stories in ways that are inclusive of all PWUD while highlighting the role of broad, structural determinants of substance use has the potential to shift public opinion and government support in favour of these life-saving services.

Public support for safer supply programs: analysis of a cross-sectional survey of Canadians in two provinces.

OBJECTIVES: Canada's ongoing drug poisoning crisis has contributed to unprecedented rates of morbidity and mortality. Health Canada has funded safer supply pilot programs to help connect people who use drugs to pharmaceutical grade medications that reduce their reliance on a toxic drug supply. However, most provinces, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, have not endorsed these initiatives. We explored public support for safer supply programs in these two Canadian provinces and identified predictors of support for this policy option. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were examined from an online panel survey that included measures assessing views on policy responses to substance use and addiction. A total of 1602 adults were recruited during March 2021. We used descriptive statistics to characterize support for safer supply programs in Alberta and Saskatchewan and multinominal logistic regression analysis to examine predictors of public support for safer supply. RESULTS: The majority of respondents (AB: 63.5% and SK: 56.3%) supported safer supply programs that replace illegal street drugs with pharmaceutical alternatives for those unable to stop using. Predicted probabilities show a greater probability of support for safer supply among those with higher education and those leaning left on the political spectrum. CONCLUSION: A majority of Canadians from Alberta and Saskatchewan supported provincial government efforts to expand safer supply, suggesting a lack of public support is not the main barrier to implementation. Efforts at mobilizing this public opinion are needed to scale up and facilitate evaluation of this drug poisoning response.

RéSUMé: OBJECTIFS: La crise de l'empoisonnement aux drogues qui perdure au Canada contribue à des taux de morbidité et de mortalité sans précédent. Santé Canada finance des programmes pilotes pour aider les personnes qui font usage de drogue à obtenir des médicaments de qualité pharmaceutique de sources plus sûres qui réduisent leur dépendance envers les stocks de médicaments toxiques. Cependant, la plupart des provinces, dont l'Alberta et la Saskatchewan, n'ont pas avalisé ces initiatives. Nous avons exploré l'appui du public aux programmes d'approvisionnement plus sécuritaire dans ces deux provinces canadiennes et cerné les variables prédictives de l'appui à cette option stratégique. MéTHODE: Nous avons étudié les données transversales d'une enquête par panel menée en ligne qui incluait des mesures d'évaluation des opinions sur les réponses politiques à l'usage de substances et aux toxicomanies. En tout, 1 602 adultes ont été recrutés en mars 2021. Nous avons fait appel à des statistiques descriptives pour caractériser l'appui aux programmes d'approvisionnement plus sécuritaire en Alberta et en Saskatchewan et à une analyse de régression logistique multinomiale pour examiner les variables prédictives de l'appui du public à l'approvisionnement plus sécuritaire. RéSULTATS: La majorité des répondants (Alberta : 63,5 %; Saskatchewan : 56,3 %) étaient en faveur des programmes d'approvisionnement plus sécuritaire qui remplacent les drogues de rue illicites par des médicaments de qualité pharmaceutiques pour les personnes incapables de cesser de consommer. Les probabilités prédites montrent une probabilité accrue d'appui à l'approvisionnement plus sécuritaire chez les personnes ayant fait des études supérieures et les personnes à gauche de l'échiquier politique. CONCLUSION: Une majorité de Canadiennes et de Canadiens de l'Alberta et de la Saskatchewan appuyaient les efforts des gouvernements provinciaux pour élargir l'approvisionnement plus sécuritaire, ce qui indique qu'un manque d'appui du public n'est pas le principal obstacle à la mise en œuvre de l'initiative. Des efforts de mobilisation de l'opinion sont nécessaires pour intensifier cette intervention de lutte contre l'empoisonnement aux drogues et pour en faciliter l'évaluation.

Mental Health Professional Consultations and the Prevalence of Mood and Anxiety Disorders Among Immigrants: Multilevel Analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey.

BACKGROUND: There is a significant body of evidence on the link between migration and mental health stressors. However, there has been very little research on the use of mental health services by immigrants in Canada. The prevalence of mental health professional consultations among immigrants, as well as its correlations, are not well understood and remain largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine how specialist mental health visits (to a psychiatrist) differ from general mental health visits (to a family doctor or general practitioner) from immigrants, when compared to visits from those born in Canada, in a nationally representative sample of Canadian adults. This study also examines which group-immigrant or Canadian-born-suffers more from depression or anxiety, 2 of the more common mental health conditions. METHODS: We used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) between the years 2015 and 2016. The outcome variables included consultation with any mental health professional, consultation with a specialist (psychiatrist), and the prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders. The independent variable was immigrant status. Other variables of interest were adjusted for in the analyses. Multilevel regression models were developed, and all analyses were performed with Stata IC statistical software (version 13.0, StataCorp). RESULTS: The prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders was significantly lower among immigrants compared with individuals born in Canada; the prevalence of mood disorders was 5.24% (389,164/7,422,773) for immigrants vs. 9.15% (2,001,829/21,885,625) for individuals born in Canada, and the prevalence of anxiety disorders was 4.47% (330,937/7,410,437) for immigrants vs. 9.51% (2,083,155/21,898,839) for individuals born in Canada. It is expected that individuals with a lower prevalence of mood or anxiety disorders would use mental health services less frequently. However, results show that immigrants, while less likely to consult with any mental health professional (OR=0.80, 95% CI 0.72-0.88, P<.001), were more likely to consult with a psychiatrist (OR=1.24, 95% CI 1.04-1.48, P=.02) for their mental health visits when compared to individuals born in Canada. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study reveal an unusual discord between the likelihood of mental health professional consultations with any mental health professional and mental health visits with psychiatrists among immigrants compared to nonimmigrants in Canada. Mental health initiatives need to be cognizant of the differences in the associated characteristics of consultations for immigrants to better tailor mental health services to be responsive to the unique needs of immigrant populations in Canada.