Using the Power of Communication to Combat Opioid Use Disorder.

In the fall of 2020, a billboard went up in Plymouth, Mass. “Protect your loved one from an overdose,” it said. “Carry naloxone.” Soon after the billboard appeared, a local pharmacy noted more people asking for naloxone, a medication designed to reverse opioid overdose.

“Helping community-driven communication strategies come into fruition is rewarding,” says Dacia Beard, MPH, communications project manager for the Massachusetts site of the HEALing Communities Study (HCS). The study, which is part of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, partners university researchers with local communities in four hard-hit states (Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Massachusetts) to implement interventions aimed at reducing opioid overdose deaths. Part of the study focuses on communication—on spreading messages that reduce the stigma of opioid addiction and encourage treatment.

Beard, who has led other NIH communications projects, joined the study in 2019 to manage the work of the BU-based team, known as the HCS-MA Communication Core, which is directed by HLPM Chair Michael Stein, and includes David Rosenbloom and staff from Boston Medical Center and BUSPH. “Dacia is a master of her craft and a long-time and savvy student of communication vehicles and campaigns,” Dr. Stein said. The Communication Core, in conjunction with the Communication Work Group and Web Task Force, supports the creation and distribution of HCS communication campaigns, management of the HCS website, and the promotion of some evidence-based strategies being implemented by local coalitions. 

The HCS campaign toolbox houses ready-to-use materials for community-led distribution, such as flyers, posters, public service announcements, social media posts, and op-eds. Beard and her team work with community teams and coalitions to develop customized materials for placement in mobile apps, malls, billboards, buses, utility bills, and newspapers – methods that have shown promising results for all eight HCS communities currently implementing overdose reduction strategies.   

“When we are tailoring materials for a community, it is important for us to think about what languages the campaign materials need to be developed in,” Beard says. “We also think about who is most affected by opioid use disorder, and the types of occupations, races, and ethnicities that are present in a community.”

With a year of such success in disseminating three communications campaigns so far, the HCS is now working on its “culmination campaign”—a collection of video testimonials from people in recovery. “We’re hearing directly from people with opioid use disorder,” Beard says. “They are talking about how they started drug use, their journey to recovery, how they overcome barriers to treatment with medication for opioid use disorder, and sustain in their treatment regimen. It is amazing to hear these stories.” The testimonials are a reminder that bleak opioid use statistics represent real people, and Beard hopes the videos will help increase awareness of local resources, reduce stigma, and drive more people to treatment.

 While her primary goal is to help conduct effective communication campaigns, Beard also aims to educate local leaders about communication strategy. “The study is in the community for a moment in time,” she says. “We need to think about ways to offer knowledge, skills, and resources that will be sustainable for the long term.” Each community has either a committee or a specific person (a “communications champion”) who executes communication efforts at the coalition- and community-level with help from Beard’s team. Beard and her colleagues offer co-learning opportunities, trainings, and technical assistance to community teams and local leaders in the coalition—not just within and across communities in Massachusetts but also across all states involved in the study.