Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Changing The Culture Of Opioid-Related Messaging In Florida: A Formative Research Approach, Laura Boutemen, Lindsay Neuberger, Chad Collins, Chandler Dobiyanski, Bethany Richardson, Emily Knapp

Florida Public Health Review

Though expanding in negative impact for decades, the opioid epidemic, including heroin use, has reached public health emergency status in the United States. Heroin is not used only by the most intense drug users, but becoming more common place (Hirschfeld Davis, 2017). It is essential to better understand how young adults perceive heroin prevention, intervention, and treatment so the most effective campaign messages can be constructed to assist them. This paper presents data from four focus groups (N=24) in Orlando, Florida to better gauge young adult knowledge regarding heroin and obtain specific recommendations to successfully inform future messaging. Results suggest …