Aim:

The aim of this study is to illuminate the experience of living with alcohol addiction from the perspective of socially excluded people outside the healthcare system. It presents the results from a qualitative study of five personal narratives from socially excluded men living with alcohol addiction in Denmark. The group is rarely heard and often underprioritised in the Danish healthcare system, contributing to the social inequality in public health. Therefore, giving them a voice will contribute important insight into the individuals’ own experiences and understandings of their situations.

Design:

Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with socially excluded people living with alcohol addiction. Positioned in a narrative methodology, the focus of the study was on the construction of meaning on a structural, performative and thematic level of the narratives of addiction, as told by the person with addiction.

Results:

Social identities as “alcoholics” were constructed across the narratives; however, there was a distinct difference between the different informants’ own positions. Some constructed meaning in their addiction by including an identity as a stereotypical “drunk” defined as a certain type of unhealthy, unkempt, low-income addict. Others distanced themselves from this identity. Furthermore, alcohol was presented with a double meaning, being associated with positive memories and relationships as well as negative consequences and bad experiences, complicating a potential wish for sobriety.

Conclusions:

The study illuminates the individual perspectives in the identity construction of socially excluded people with alcohol addiction. When relating to the characteristics of the stereotypical “drunk”, the individuals’ self-perspectives may differ from the common understanding. The constructed identities reflected the participants’ lived experience with addiction, with alcohol as an unavoidable life companion, consequently creating individual meaning in one’s addiction.

中文翻译：

---

酒精成瘾中意义的建构：对被社会排斥的人关于酒精的故事的叙事研究

目的：

本研究的目的是从医疗保健系统之外被社会排斥的人的角度阐明酗酒的经历。它展示了对丹麦酗酒的社会排斥男性的五种个人叙述进行定性研究的结果。在丹麦的医疗保健系统中，这个群体很少被听到，而且经常被忽视，这导致了公共卫生领域的社会不平等。因此，给予他们发言权将有助于深入了解个人自身的经历和对其处境的理解。

设计：

对被社会排斥的酗酒者进行了五次半结构化访谈。定位在叙事方法中，研究的重点是在成瘾叙事的结构、表演和主题层面上构建意义，正如成瘾者所说的那样。

结果：

作为“酗酒者”的社会身份是在叙事中构建的；然而，不同的线人自己的立场却有明显的不同。一些人通过将身份描述为刻板的“醉酒”来构建成瘾的意义，该身份被定义为某种类型的不健康、蓬头垢面的低收入成瘾者。其他人则远离这个身份。此外，酒精具有双重含义，与积极的记忆和人际关系以及消极的后果和糟糕的经历有关，使潜在的清醒愿望复杂化。

结论：

该研究阐明了被社会排斥的酗酒者的身份构建中的个人观点。当谈到刻板的“醉酒”的特征时，个人的自我观点可能与通常的理解有所不同。所构建的身份反映了参与者的成瘾经历，酒精作为不可避免的生活伴侣，从而在一个人的成瘾中创造了个人意义。