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Completed

NCT Number: NCT05127707

Strategies to Reduce Addiction Stigma Among Health Professionals

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.

Completed

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Key information

Conditions

Opioid Use Disorder Behavior Chemically-Induced Disorders Mental Disorders Narcotic-Related Disorders Opioid-Related Disorders Social Behavior Social Stigma Stigma, Social Substance Use Disorders Substance-Related Disorders

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, United States

About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Words Matter - Visual Campaign

Behavioral

Visual campaign emphasizing the importance of using non-stigmatizing language related to substance use and opioid use disorder in clinical settings.

Words Matter - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Person with Opioid Use Disorder) Experimental: Words Matter - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Clinician)

Behavioral

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

Words Matter - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Clinician)

Behavioral

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

Words Matter - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Health System Administrator)

Behavioral

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

Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Works - Visual Campaign

Behavioral

Visual campaign emphasizing the effectiveness and value of medications to treat opioid use disorder in saving lives

Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Works - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Person with Opioid Use Disorder)

Behavioral

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

Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Works - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Clinician)

Behavioral

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

Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Works - Visual Campaign & Narrative Vignette (Messenger: Health System Administrator)

Behavioral

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

Primary outcomes

  1. Rating of willingness to have person with opioid use disorder marry into their family

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  2. Rating of willingness to have person with opioid use disorder as a neighbor

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  3. Rating of agreement that opioid use disorder is a medical condition

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  4. Rating of agreement that individuals with opioid use disorder are to blame

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  5. Rating of support for increasing government spending on opioid use disorder treatment

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  6. Feeling thermometer measure of warmth toward people with opioid use disorder

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    Rating of warmth felt toward people with opioid use disorder with 0 indicating extremely cold and 100 indicating extremely warm. Measured via survey questionnaire.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Stigmatizing Language - Addict

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  2. Stigmatizing Language - Substance abuse

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  3. Stigmatizing Language - dirty

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  4. Stigmatizing Language - clean

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  5. Stigmatizing Language - addicted baby

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  6. Stigmatizing Language - person with substance use disorder

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  7. Stigmatizing Language - substance use

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  8. Stigmatizing Language - negative test result

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  9. Stigmatizing Language - positive test result

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  10. Stigmatizing Language - baby born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  11. Willingness to sign pledge committing to using non-stigmatizing language

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  12. Perception of opioid use disorder treatment effectiveness

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  13. Rating of willingness to have person taking medication marry into their family

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  14. Rating of willingness to have person taking medication marry as a neighbor

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  15. Rating of strength/weakness of person taking medication

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  16. Rating of agreement that recovery is possible

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

  17. Feeling thermometer measure of warmth toward people taking medication

    Time frame: Measured immediately post-exposure to message frame intervention

    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.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Other

Registry information

Official study title

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

Important dates

Study start
2020
Primary completion
2020
Study completion
2020
First posted
Nov 19, 2021
Registry last updated
Nov 19, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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