A harm reduction perspective in nursing care for people who use drugs

Abstract

People who use drugs are exposed to social and health harms in contexts of social marginalization and stigmatization fostered by prohibitionist policies. In the face of these negative consequences, harm reduction programmes emerge as a strategy to minimize the harms of drug use and improve the quality of life of this population. These programmes are carried out in community, hospital and prison services, where nursing professionals are key to providing comprehensive care. Nurses offer care centred on the needs of service users, through health education and specialized care. To this end, the therapeutic relationship is established as an interaction of trust and respect to favour recovery processes. Scientific evidence confirms that the harm reduction perspective has a positive impact on the ethics and practice of nursing aimed at people who use drugs. For this reason, it is imperative to defend and promote the harm reduction paradigm among nursing professionals in order to expand the impact of their interventions.