Strategies to Reduce Addiction Stigma Among Health Professionals

Effect of Exposure to Visual Campaigns and Narrative Vignettes on Addiction Stigma Among Health Professionals: A Randomized Experiment

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exposure to stigma reduction message frames communicated by visual campaigns and narrative vignettes among a national sample of health professionals.

This randomized experiment evaluated the impact of exposure to message frames communicating the importance of non-stigmatizing language regarding addiction and the effectiveness of medication treatment for opioid use disorder delivered through a visual campaign alone or through a visual campaign in addition to a narrative vignette from the perspective of one of three messengers (a person with opioid use disorder, a clinician, or a health system leader) on attitudes toward people with opioid use disorder and medications for treating opioid use disorder among a national sample of health professionals.

Inclusion Criteria:

• employed as health professional in the United States, including clinicians (e.g., physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and optometrists), technicians and technologists (e.g., laboratory technologist or technician, emergency medical technician, paramedic, licensed practical or licensed vocational nurse, medical records or health information technician, etc.), health aids and assistants (e.g., nursing aide, home health aide, medical assistant, pharmacy aide, phlebotomist, etc.)
• participant in existing web-based survey panel (IPSOS's KnowledgeNetworks panel and partner opt-in panel)

Exclusion Criteria:

• not employed in health profession
• not able to complete experiment and survey in English