Perceptions of a drug prevention public service announcement campaign among street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study

Lianlian Ti,Thomas Kerr,William Small,Danya Fast

doi:10.1186/s12954-017-0132-7

Abstract

BackgroundDue to the popularity of public service announcements (PSAs), as well as the broader health and social harms associated with illicit drug use, this study sought to investigate how drug prevention messages found in the Government of Canada’s DrugsNot4Me campaign were understood, experienced, and engaged with among a group of street-involved young people in Vancouver, Canada.MethodsQualitative interviews were conducted with 25 individuals enrolled in the At-Risk Youth Study, and a thematic analysis was conducted.ResultsFindings indicate that the campaign’s messages neither resonated with “at-risk youth”, nor provided information or resources for support. In some cases, the messaging exacerbated the social suffering experienced by these individuals.ConclusionsThis study underscores the importance of rigorous evaluation of PSAs and the need to consider diverting funds allocated to drug prevention campaigns to social services that can meaningfully address the structural drivers of drug-related harms among vulnerable youth populations.

Highlights

Due to the popularity of public service announcements (PSAs), as well as the broader health and social harms associated with illicit drug use, this study sought to investigate how drug prevention messages found in the Government of Canada’s DrugsNot4Me campaign were understood, experienced, and engaged with among a group of street-involved young people in Vancouver, Canada
Unrealistic and decontextualized representations of drug use Overall, findings of the present study indicated that the DrugsNot4Me campaign did not affect young people’s drug using behaviors, whether in terms of preventing the initiation of more severe forms of drug use or motivating young people to stop using drugs
The majority of the study participants characterized the storylines and primary characters featured in the DrugsNot4Me video PSAs as unrealistic, using terms such as “inauthentic”, “simplistic”, “illogical”, and “ridiculous”

Summary

Introduction

Due to the popularity of public service announcements (PSAs), as well as the broader health and social harms associated with illicit drug use, this study sought to investigate how drug prevention messages found in the Government of Canada’s DrugsNot4Me campaign were understood, experienced, and engaged with among a group of street-involved young people in Vancouver, Canada. During the past half-century, public service announcements (PSAs) to promote healthy behaviors have become increasingly popular, including PSAs focused on preventing drug use among youth, which target both young people and their parents [1]. The literature on the effectiveness of drug prevention PSAs reveals mixed results [2, 3]. Many PSAs focused on preventing drug use among youth use fear-based appeals in an effort to motivate behavioral change. Literature on the effectiveness of fear-based appeals in PSAs has revealed mixed results [4, 5, 12]. Many have argued that the arousal of fear through PSAs can foster feelings of antagonism, alienation, or resentment among target

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion