Day-to-day Discrimination and Substance Use Treatment Motivation Among Justice-involved Adults Experiencing Homelessness

Adults experiencing homelessness (AEH) disproportionately suffer from substance use disorders (SUD) and under-utilize SUD treatments compared with the general population. AEH with a recent history of justice involvement (AEH+J) face additional treatment barriers related to discrimination and criminal history. To describe types of discrimination that AEH+J experience and assess whether the type of discrimination experienced impacts motivation for SUD treatment by SUD severity. We analyzed data from 164 AEH+J (85% male, 54% non-Hispanic Black) from the Link2Care cohort. ANOVA and linear regression analyses tested for associations between discrimination type, SUD treatment motivation, and SUD severity. Multivariable linear regression models examined associations between discrimination types and SUD treatment motivation by SUD severity level. The majority of AEH+J experienced discrimination (90%), primarily due to homeless status (27%) and race (27%). AEH+J with severe SUD had a significantly greater motivation for SUD treatment than those with mild/moderate disorders (mean difference: 7.34,  < .0001). Discrimination type was not directly associated with SUD severity or treatment motivation. However, among participants with severe SUD, AEH+J who experienced race-related discrimination had lower treatment motivation than those who did not experience discrimination (β = -6.17,  = .03). Results support allocating scarce publicly available SUD treatment resources to AEH+J with the greatest need and motivation to receive treatment. Results also highlight the importance of screening for discriminatory experiences, especially to those who primarily experience race-related discrimination, to improve motivation for SUD treatment among AEH+J with severe SUD.