Abstract
BACKGROUND: Community stigma against people with opioid use disorder (OUD) and intervention stigma (e.g., toward naloxone) exacerbate the opioid overdose crisis. We examined the effects of the Communities that HEAL (CTH) intervention on perceived opioid-related community stigma by stakeholders in the HEALing Communities Study (HCS).
METHODS: We collected three surveys from community coalition members in 66 communities across four states participating in HCS. Communities were randomized into Intervention (Wave 1) or Wait-list Control (Wave 2) arms. We conducted multilevel linear mixed models to compare changes in primary outcomes of community stigma toward people treated for OUD, naloxone, and medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) by arm from time 1 (before the start of the intervention) to time 3 (end of the intervention period in the Intervention arm).
FINDINGS: Intervention stakeholders reported a larger decrease in perceived community stigma toward people treated for OUD (adjusted mean change (AMC) -3.20 [95% C.I. -4.43, -1.98]) and toward MOUD (AMC -0.33 [95% C.I. -0.56, -0.09]) than stakeholders in Wait-list Control communities (AMC -0.18 [95% C.I. -1.38, 1.02],
INTERPRETATION: The CTH intervention decreased stakeholder perceptions of community stigma toward people treated for OUD and stigma toward MOUD. Implementing the CTH intervention in other communities could decrease OUD stigma across diverse settings nationally.
FUNDING: US National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2024
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2024.100710
Funding Information
US National Institute on Drug Abuse
Repository Citation
Davis, Alissa; Knudsen, Hannah K.; Walker, Daniel M.; Chassler, Deborah; Lunze, Karsten; Westgate, Philip M.; Oga, Emmanuel; Rodriguez, Sandra; Tan, Sylvia; Holloway, JaNae; Walsh, Sharon L.; Oser, Carrie B.; Lefebvre, R. Craig; Fanucchi, Laura C.; Glasgow, LaShawn; McAlearney, Ann Scheck; Surratt, Hilary L.; Konstan, Michael W.; Huang, Terry T-K; LeBaron, Patricia; Nakayima, Julie; Stein, Michael D.; Rudorf, Maria; Nouvong, Monica; Kinnard, Elizabeth N.; El-Bassel, Nabila; Tilley, Jess; Macoubray, Aaron; Savitzky, Caroline; Farmer, Amy; Beers, Donna; Salsberry, Pamela; and Huerta, Timothy R., "Effects of the Communities that Heal (CTH) intervention on perceived opioid-related community stigma in the HEALing Communities Study: results of a multi-site, community-level, cluster-randomized trial" (2024). Behavioral Science Faculty Publications. 92.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/behavsci_facpub/92
Included in
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Sociology Commons, Substance Abuse and Addiction Commons
Notes/Citation Information
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).