Harm reduction stories: leveraging graphic medicine to engage veterans in substance use services within the VA.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Harm reduction strategies can decrease morbidity and mortality associated with substance use. Various barriers limit conversation around substance use between clinicians and patients. Graphic medicine techniques can inform and encourage patient-centered conversations about substance use. We describe the co-development of a harm reduction-focused graphic medicine comic that depicts the infectious risks associated with injection drug use and patient-centered approaches to providing education about potential risk mitigation strategies.

Methods

We formed a co-design group of veterans with lived experience with substance use, physicians, health services researchers, and community-based harm reduction leaders. Over the course of ten sessions, the co-design team develope

SUBMITTER: Harvey LH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10702088 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature