Interventions to reduce substance-related stigma

Interventions to reduce stigma about substance abuse aim to establish contact with vulnerable groups to avoid social isolation, protest and take action against prejudice, and foster education to replace myths with factual knowledge. A systematic review (Gür & Yilmaz, 2023, 10 studies) to assess the effectiveness of interventions reducing substance-related stigma found that:

• interventions did not have a significant impact on reducing stigma (Hedges’ g = 0.301, 95% CI =-0.154 to 0.755, p = 0.195) nor social stigma (g=-0.198, 95% CI=-1.271 to 0.876).
• interventions had a small significant impact on reducing structural stigma [0.360 (95% CI= 0.156-0.564), p = 0.00].