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HEALing Communities Study communication campaigns

Also: HCS campaigns · Communities That HEAL communication campaigns

Community-tailored communication campaigns run as part of the NIH HEAL Initiative's HEALing Communities Study (January 2020 - December 2023), a cluster-randomized trial in 67 communities in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. Four campaigns, built from core assets that coalitions localized with their own 'faces and places', aimed to reduce stigma, encourage treatment with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and get organizations to stock naloxone; most media was paid social and digital during COVID-19. Intervention communities ran them first; wait-list communities later.

Years
2020–2023
Reach
85.9M impressions as reported
“Campaign studies: 85.9M paid impressions;”
Country
United States
Topic
Opioids
Asks people to
Seek helpStartSupport a policy
Strategy
Policy pairedSelf efficacyTestimonial
Channel
OutdoorPrintSearchSocial (paid)
Audience
AdultsGeneral public
Community members in trial communities; coalitions chose priority groups (e.g. families, people with OUD, clinicians, criminal-legal staff).

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalMixed

Trial: across the 12-month comparison period (July 2021 - June 2022), opioid overdose death rates were similar in intervention and control communities (47.2 vs 51.7 per 100,000; adjusted rate ratio 0.91, 95% CI 0.76-1.09), so the whole Communities That HEAL intervention, campaigns included, did not significantly reduce deaths (HCS Consortium, NEJM 2024). Deaths from all drugs also did not differ (57.6 vs 61.2 per 100,000; aRR 0.92, 95% CI 0.78-1.07), though deaths involving an opioid plus a non-cocaine stimulant fell 37% (aRR 0.63) (Freisthler 2024). Campaign studies: 85.9M paid impressions; social media outperformed banner/display on click-through and cost-per-click, and local spokespeople beat stock models (Lewis 2026). Survey of 2,368 residents: naloxone messaging rated most acceptable and influential (Luster 2025). In intervention communities, campaign recognition was associated with lower OUD stigma and higher naloxone efficacy beliefs, but recognition did not clearly differ between intervention and wait-list communities, so a causal effect is unproven (Lewis 2024).

Sponsor (who paid)

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH HEAL Initiative) Federal government, funder
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Federal government, co-funder
  • HEALing Communities Study research sites (University of Kentucky, Boston Medical Center, Columbia University, The Ohio State University) Academic, creator and evaluator

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Lefebvre RC et al. Health communication campaigns to drive demand for evidence-based practices and reduce stigma in the HEALing communities study. Drug Alcohol Depend 2020;217:108338 history · 2020 · DOI 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108338 · PMID 33152673
  2. Stein MD et al. Lessons Learned from Developing Tailored Community Communication Campaigns in the HEALing Communities Study. J Health Commun 2023;28(10):699-705 history · 2023 · DOI 10.1080/10810730.2023.2262948 · PMID 37752882
  3. Lewis N et al. Stigma and efficacy beliefs regarding opioid use disorder treatment and naloxone in communities participating in the HEALing Communities Study intervention. PLoS One 2024;19(12):e0308965 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0308965 · PMID 39630633
  4. Luster J et al. A Cross-Sectional Study of Acceptability and Influence of HEALing Communities Study Communications Campaign Messaging Among Community Members in Four U.S. States. Am J Health Promot 2025 evaluation · 2025 · DOI 10.1177/08901171251398985 · PMID 41237130
  5. Lewis N et al. Health Communication Campaign Performance During the HEALing Communities Study: Cross-Sectional Examination of Digital Advertising Methods. J Med Internet Res 2026;28:e75458 evaluation · 2026 · DOI 10.2196/75458 · PMID 41921212
  6. Freisthler B et al. Communities That HEAL Intervention and Mortality Including Polysubstance Overdose Deaths: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open 2024;7(10):e2440006 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.40006 · PMID 39432308
  7. Communication Campaigns (HEALing Communities Study site) sponsor
  8. About HEALing Communities Study (HCS) sponsor

Research notes

Corrected 2026-10-22: the study site (healingcommunitiesstudy.org) says four campaigns in 66 communities (about page: 67 municipalities) and a study period of January 2020 - December 2023, so the old '33+ communities, April 2020 - June 2022, three campaigns' wording was replaced and endYear set to 2023; the 2022 end date in the earlier record likely referred to the intervention-community wave. The site lists only three campaign objectives (stigma, treatment, naloxone); the fourth campaign is not named there. Trial primary outcome now attached (NEJM 2024, trial NCT04111939). Unverified: the names of the four academic research sites (the study site names only the states) and SAMHSA's co-funding role (the site names a NIDA cooperative agreement only). No outside agency credited for campaign creative. Useful benchmark for settlement-funded local campaigns: built-in randomized comparison communities. Procurement search 2026-10-22: HCS is grant-funded (NIDA UM1 cooperative agreements to the four sites; RTI International holds the data coordinating center, UM1DA049394, USD 29.2M), so campaign vendors do not appear as federal contracts. Search results say the campaigns were developed by the HCS site teams; no outside agency named. Evidence updated 2026-10-22: added the trial's all-drug and polysubstance overdose death outcomes (Freisthler 2024, JAMA Netw Open); level and outcome unchanged. Corrected 2026-10-22: healingcommunitiesstudy.org now redirects to https://hcs.rti.org/; source links updated. Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/healing-communities-study-campaigns.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign