A US national randomized study to guide how best to reduce stigma when describing drug-related impairment in practice and policy.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Drug-related impairment is persistently stigmatized delaying and preventing treatment engagement. To reduce stigma, various medical terms (e.g. 'chronically relapsing brain disease', 'disorder') have been promoted in diagnostic systems and among national health agencies, yet some argue that over-medicalization of drug-related impairment lowers prognostic optimism and reduces personal agency. While intensely debated, rigorous empirical study is lacking. This study investigated whether random exposure to one of six common ways of describing drug-related impairment induces systematically different judgments.

Design, setting and participants

Cross-sectional survey, US general population, among a nationally representative non-institutionalized sample (n = 3635

SUBMITTER: Kelly JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8124079 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature