Anderson, M and Atkinson, A M and McAuley, A and Sumnall, Harry and Glancy, M E and Bloomfield, H A and Trayner, K M A (2024) Assessing the reach and engagement with the ‘How To Save A Life’ mass media campaign on drug-related death prevention in Scotland. Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy, 31, (5), pp. 524-533. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2023.2262735.
External website: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687...
‘How To Save A Life’ (HTSAL) was a mass media campaign on drug-related death prevention which ran in Scotland from August 2021 to January 2022. It aimed to increase awareness of how to respond to an opioid overdose, and the uptake of take-home naloxone (THN). The objective of this study was to determine the reach and engagement with the campaign. Methods included a descriptive analysis of data from media sources, the campaign website, and an online naloxone training course. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on media articles.
The campaign generated 57,402,850 non-unique impressions (the total number of times the campaign was seen or heard), and unique reach (the number of people who were exposed to the campaign) figures of 2,621,450. Engagement with the campaign was positive, and 96% of print/digital media articles had a positive view of the campaign. There were 40,714 visits to the campaign website, leading to 8,107 clicks to the free naloxone training course, and 3,141 clicks to order a free naloxone kit.
This study showed that mass media campaigns on drug policy topics can achieve high levels of reach and engagement. There was a clear progression from viewing campaign materials, to visiting the campaign website, to completing naloxone training. Our research suggests that mass media campaigns can be used to disseminate harm reduction messages to the general public.
G Health and disease > Public health
G Health and disease > Substance use disorder (addiction) > Drug use disorder > Drug intoxication > Poisoning (overdose)
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Harm reduction > Substance use harm reduction
N Communication, information and education > Communication > Online communication / social media
N Communication, information and education > Information use and impact
N Communication, information and education > Information transfer / dissemination > Information transfer from research evidence to practice
P Demography, epidemiology, and history > Population dynamics > Substance related mortality / death
VA Geographic area > Europe > United Kingdom > Scotland
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