Community social deprivation and availability of substance use treatment and mutual aid recovery groups

BackgroundThe spatial distribution of substance use services impacts their use, with greater access to services associated with more positive outcomes. Findings from availability of primary healthcare indicate service shortages exist in areas characterized by social deprivation. This study investigated whether community social deprivation was associated with a lack of availability of substance use treatment or mutual aid recovery support services.MethodsThis is an ecological analysis investigating the availability of substance use services at a community level in the state of New Hampshire. Several public data sources were combined to represent community social deprivation and availability of substance treatment of mutual aid recovery support groups. Principal components analysis and negative binomial regression were used to test the relationship between community structure and the availability of substance use services.ResultsCommunity social deprivation was characterized by high rates of poverty, no access to motor vehicles, renter-occupied housing, less than a high school degree, and nonemployment. Communities high in measures of social deprivation were associated with increased availability of both substance use treatment and recovery support services.ConclusionsContrary to findings in access to primary healthcare services, social disadvantage was positively related to availability for both types of substance use services. This relationship may reflect the stigma associated with substance use where services associated with stigmatized conditions locate in areas with the least resistance to their presence or be a function of affordability of space. Future research could investigate the relationship between access to services and individual client outcomes.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy

• Publication date

  2019-08-19

• Fields of study

  Sociology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1186/s13011-019-0221-6PMID 31426822PMCID 6701142
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Increased distance was associated with lower daily attendance to an opioid treatment program in Spokane County Washington.

  2018cited by this paper
• Spatial Autocorrelation Approaches to Testing Residuals from Least Squares Regression

  2015cited by this paper
• Spatial accessibility of drug treatment facilities and the effects on locus of control, drug use, and service use among heroin-injecting Mexican American men.

  2014cited by this paper
• Measures of social deprivation that predict health care access and need within a rational area of primary care service delivery.

  2013influential reference
• Travel distance to outpatient substance use disorder treatment facilities for Spanish-speaking clients.

  2013cited by this paper
• Testing for Spatial Autocorrelation Among Regression Residuals

  2010cited by this paper
• Exploring the Reciprocal Effects of Substance Abuse Treatment Provision and Area Substance Abuse

  2008cited by this paper
• Attendance at Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, frequency of attendance and substance use outcomes after residential treatment for drug dependence: a 5-year follow-up study.

  2008cited by this paper
• The Evidence Base for the Effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous: Implications for Social Work Practice

  2008cited by this paper
• City's Racial Composition Shapes Treatment Center Characteristics and Services

  2008cited by this paper
• Measuring Neighborhood: A Conundrum for Human Services Researchers and Practitioners

  2007cited by this paper
• Neighborhood income and income distribution and the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana.

  2007cited by this paper
• A Preliminary Comparison of Major Kinds of Obstacles to Enrolling in Substance Abuse Treatment (AOD) Reported by Injecting Street Outreach Clients and Other Stakeholders

  2007cited by this paper
• The effect of individual, program, and neighborhood variables on continuity of treatment among dually diagnosed individuals.

  2007cited by this paper
• The need for substance abuse after-care: longitudinal analysis of Oxford House.

  2007cited by this paper
• Negative Binomial Regression

  2007cited by this paper
• Do Drug Treatment Facilities Increase Clients’ Exposure to Potential Neighborhood-Level Triggers for Relapse? A Small-Area Assessment of a Large, Public Treatment System

  2006cited by this paper
• Publisher's Note

  2003cited by this paper
• The influence of distance on utilization of outpatient mental health aftercare following inpatient substance abuse treatment.

  2003cited by this paper
• Distance traveled to outpatient drug treatment and client retention.

  2003cited by this paper
• The effects of travel barriers and age on the utilization of alcoholism treatment aftercare.

  1995cited by this paper
• Key ingredients to effective addictions treatment.

  1995cited by this paper

• Equity-Related Determinants of Frequent Emergency Department Visits for Substance Use Disorders: A Population-Based Study in Ontario, Canada.

  2026cites this paper
• “Trust and suspicion” client and provider perspectives on the acceptability of medication for opioid use disorder among people who inject drugs in Kampala, Uganda

  2025cites this paper
• “Trust and suspicion” Client and provider perspectives on the acceptability of medication for opioid use disorder among people who inject drugs in Kampala, Uganda

  2025cites this paper
• From Hull-House Maps and Papers to Geographic Information System (GIS) Applications: A Systematic Review for Utilization of GIS in a Social Work Grand Challenge of Closing the Health Gap.

  2024cites this paper
• Income inequality and deaths of despair risk in Canada, identifying possible mechanisms.

  2024cites this paper
• Investigating social deprivation and comorbid mental health diagnosis as predictors of treatment access among patients with an opioid use disorder using substance use services: a prospective cohort study

  2023cites this paper
• Investigating social deprivation and comorbid mental health diagnosis as predictors of treatment outcomes among patients with an opiate use disorder using substance use services: a prospective cohort study

  2022cites this paper