Using narrative and informational messages to improve correctional professionals' attitudes toward medications for opioid use disorder.

Background: Criminal legal involved (CLI) individuals face a heightened risk of opioid misuse and overdose, yet access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is limited, particularly in criminal legal settings. Negative attitudes and misinformation about MOUD are prevalent among legal system actors, creating a barrier to MOUD access. This study examines the effectiveness of informational and narrative messages in correcting misinformation and promoting positive attitudes toward MOUD among criminal legal system (CLS) professionals.

Method: Using state/federal websites, social media groups, and professional connections to correctional and behavioral health agencies nationwide, we recruited individuals who were currently working in corrections and behavioral health in criminal legal settings in the United States (N = 502). An online experiment was conducted with four message conditions: no message control, informational message, first-person narrative message, and dialogue message. The study assessed attitudes toward MOUD use and support for greater access in these settings, as well as information processing outcomes including narrative transportation (i.e., becoming immersed in a story), perceived realism, and counterarguing.

Results: Compared to no message control, both the first-person narrative message (p = .006) and the dialogue message (p = .026) produced more positive attitudes toward MOUD; the informational message marginally improved positive attitudes (p = .080). The dialogue message also increased support for MOUD access in jails/prisons compared to control (p = .003). Neither the narrative nor the informational messages significantly reduced negative attitudes. The first-person (p = .050) and dialogue (p = .030) messages both generated significantly greater transportation compared to the informational message.

Conclusion: Both informational and narrative messages can improve attitudes toward MOUD use in criminal legal settings. Well-designed educational messages aimed at changing attitudes and reducing barriers to promoting MOUD use in criminal legal settings are warranted.