Framing harm reduction as part of an integrated approach to reduce drug overdose: A randomized message testing experiment in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, 2022

• Published in: The International journal of drug policy 2023-08, Vol.118, p.104101-104101, Article 104101
• Main Authors: McGinty, Emma E., White, Sarah A., Sherman, Susan G., Lee, Rachel, Kennedy-Hendricks, Alene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Communication; Harm reduction; Overdose; Survey
• ISSN: 0955-3959; 1873-4758
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104101

•Messaging can increase audience perceived effectiveness of integrated harm reduction programs.•Messages about harm reduction programs decreased audience willingness to have a program nearby.•Messages had no effect on audience willingness to invest in harm reduction programs. Low public support impedes widespread adoption of harm reduction services in the U.S. There are growing efforts to implement integrated programs offering harm reduction services alongside other services for people who use drugs. We tested how messages depicting integrated programs influence audience attitudes about harm reduction. A nine-group randomized experiment (N=3,181) embedded in a national survey of U.S. adults tested how factual and narrative messages describing programs integrating harm reduction, addiction treatment, and/or other services to reduce overdose influenced respondents’ attitudes about harm reduction, relative to a comparison message defining harm reduction. The survey was fielded from September 16th to September28th, 2022 using the NORC Amerispeak probability-based online survey panel. The survey response rate was 74%. Measures included perceived effectiveness of standalone and integrated harm reduction programs, willingness to have a harm reduction program in the neighborhood or person using harm reduction services as a neighbor, and support for increasing government spending on harm reduction services. 54.4% of respondents viewing the comparison message defining harm reduction reported that an integrated approach including harm reduction, addiction treatment, and other services is effective at reducing overdose, compared to 63.6%-69.1% of respondents viewing messages describing integrated programs (p