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.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
1,842
Visual campaign emphasizing the importance of using non-stigmatizing language related to substance use and opioid use disorder in clinical settings.
Visual campaign emphasizing the importance of using non-stigmatizing language related to substance use and opioid use disorder in clinical settings combined with a narrative vignette told from the perspective of a person with opioid use disorder
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Rating of willingness to have person with opioid use disorder marry into their family
Item from the Social Distance Scale that measures one element of stigma (desire for social distance). Measured on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating greater unwillingness and 1 indicating greater willingness to have a person with opioid use disorder marry into the family. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of willingness to have person with opioid use disorder as a neighbor
Item from the Social Distance Scale that measures one element of stigma (desire for social distance). Measured on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating greater unwillingness and 1 indicating greater willingness to have a person with opioid use disorder as a neighbor. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of agreement that opioid use disorder is a medical condition
Rating of agreement with statement "Opioid use disorder is a chronic medical condition like diabetes mellitus" on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong disagreement and 1 indicating strong agreement. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of agreement that individuals with opioid use disorder are to blame
Rating of agreement with statement "Individuals with opioid use disorder only have themselves to blame for their problem" on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong disagreement and 1 indicating strong agreement. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of support for increasing government spending on opioid use disorder treatment
Rating of support for increasing government spending on treatment of opioid use disorder with 5 indicating strongly favoring and 1 indicating strongly opposing. Measured via survey questionnaire.
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Visual campaign emphasizing the importance of using non-stigmatizing language related to substance use and opioid use disorder in clinical settings combined with a narrative vignette told from the perspective of a clinician working with patients with opioid use disorder
Visual campaign emphasizing the importance of using non-stigmatizing language related to substance use and opioid use disorder in clinical settings combined with a narrative vignette told from the perspective of a health system administrator/leader
Visual campaign emphasizing the effectiveness and value of medications to treat opioid use disorder in saving lives
Visual campaign emphasizing the effectiveness and value of medications to treat opioid use disorder in saving lives combined with a narrative vignette told from the perspective of a person with opioid use disorder
Visual campaign emphasizing the effectiveness and value of medications to treat opioid use disorder in saving lives combined with a narrative vignette told from the perspective of a clinician who treats people with opioid use disorder
Visual campaign emphasizing the effectiveness and value of medications to treat opioid use disorder in saving lives combined with a narrative vignette told from the perspective of a health system administrator/leader
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Feeling thermometer measure of warmth toward people with opioid use disorder
Rating of warmth felt toward people with opioid use disorder with 0 indicating extremely cold and 100 indicating extremely warm. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - Addict
Rating of agreement that term "addict" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - Substance abuse
Rating of agreement that term "substance abuse" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - dirty
Rating of agreement that term "'dirty' in reference to the result from a drug test" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - clean
Rating of agreement that term "'clean' in reference to the result from a drug test" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - addicted baby
Rating of agreement that term "addicted baby" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - person with substance use disorder
Rating of agreement that term "person with substance use disorder" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - substance use
Rating of agreement that term "substance use" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - negative test result
Rating of agreement that term "negative test result" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - positive test result
Rating of agreement that term "positive test result" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Stigmatizing Language - baby born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome
Rating of agreement that term "baby born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome" appropriate in a clinical care setting with 1 indicating strongly agree (that term is appropriate) and 5 indicating strongly disagree (that term is appropriate). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Willingness to sign pledge committing to using non-stigmatizing language
Binary (yes/no) measure of whether participant is willing to sign a pledge committing to using non-stigmatizing language related to substance use disorder in clinical settings. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Perception of opioid use disorder treatment effectiveness
Participant perception of whether there is a treatment for opioid use disorder that is effective for a long period of time (three close-ended response options: yes, there is a treatment; no, there isn't such a treatment; don't know). Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of willingness to have person taking medication marry into their family
Rating of willingness to have person taking medication to treat opioid use disorder marry into family. Item from the Social Distance Scale that measures one element of stigma (desire for social distance). Measured on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating greater unwillingness and 1 indicating greater willingness to have a person taking medication to treat opioid use disorder marry into the family. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of willingness to have person taking medication marry as a neighbor
Rating of willingness to have person taking medication to treat opioid use disorder as a neighbor. Item from the Social Distance Scale that measures one element of stigma (desire for social distance). Measured on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating greater unwillingness and 1 indicating greater willingness to have a person taking medication to treat opioid use disorder as a neighbor. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of strength/weakness of person taking medication
Rating of strength/weakness of person taking medication to treat opioid use disorder on 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strong and 1 indicating weak. This is a semantic differential measure. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Rating of agreement that recovery is possible
Rating of agreement with statement "Most people with opioid use disorder will, with medication treatment, get well and return to productive lives" on a 5-point Likert scale with 5 indicating strongly disagree and 1 indicating strongly agree. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention
Feeling thermometer measure of warmth toward people taking medication
Rating of warmth felt toward people taking medication to treat opioid use disorder with 0 indicating extremely cold and 100 indicating extremely warm. Measured via survey questionnaire.
Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention