Health risk communication strategies for drug checking services

Importantly, it is intended that this report will be reviewed and updated in the future, based on the feedback and field testing of these principles and methods by the drug checking services of the TEDI network collaborating with the EMCDDA. [...] In addition to individualised feedback to the people submitting substances for analysis, many drug checking services issue alerts and other communications to raise awareness of a drug-related threat, to make specific recommendations on how to reduce the risk of exposure to a drug threat, and to offer general harm reduction advice, with the objectives of improving knowledge and encouraging changes. [...] 10/45 Health risk communication strategies for drug checking services: a manual Determining drug-related harms and threats Drugs submitted for testing to drug checking services may pose threats due to different interacting factors including the properties of the drug, the characteristics of people using the drug, the setting where drug use takes place and existing responses to drug use. [...] The importance of trust, competence and credibility of drug checking services Communication intended to change drug use behaviour requires target audiences to accept the values and recommended actions of communicators, and this is built upon audience perceptions of trust, confidence and credibility in the communicator (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018; Lundgren and McMakin, 2018; R. [...] It is therefore important that communicators consider what challenges might arise as a result of the social and cultural environments in which drug use takes place, and whether their own definitions of risk and the nature of the drug threat, and the values and priorities that underpin their messages correspond with those of target groups (Gamhewage, 2016).