Making sense of drug use and dependence—A scoping review of mass media interventions intended to reduce stigma towards people who use drugs

From 14,256 records, we included 49 reports about 35 interventions. Intended recipients included the public and/or specified sub-populations, often including healthcare workers. Most interventions were intended to reduce stigma towards people with patterns of drug use perceived to be problematic, as opposed to PWUD in general. PWUD contributed to 22/35 interventions, while professionals working in medical disciplines co-authored 29/35. Intervention content often had a medical focus, describing dependence as a ‘disease’ or medical issue, and emphasised the benefits of recovery. Other interventions, however, criticized medical framings. In some interventions drug use and PWUD were described in markedly negative terms. ‘Stigma’ was often under-theorised, and measurement approaches were inconsistent. 

We found inconsistencies in approaches to reduce and measure stigma, potentially reflecting different motivations for intervention development. The primary motivation of many interventions was seemingly to promote drug service engagement and recovery.