The materials below were developed to help coalitions prepare, plan, and implement each of the four campaigns. Coalitions were provided with “core” campaign assets that could be tailored with local “faces and places.” These assets included digital products that could be used as paid advertisements or social media placements, and two formats of print materials that could be used in paid advertising, direct distribution in the form of flyers or palm cards in specific venues, or placement in locations around the community. Each community could adapt these materials to other formats as they chose.
A set of eight topical campaign "playbooks" provide practical campaign implementation tips from media and campaign distribution planning to sustainability planning and practices.
How to hold brief, structured meetings with media representatives to build an effective and respectful relationship with them.
Develop distribution or promotion plans to get campaign messages more effectively in front of the people you care about most.
Plan, draft, and submit print and digital content to the media that draws their attention to your work.
Using a Campaign Calendar to Organize Your Community's Activities
Ideas and tools to regularly assess campaign implementation and activities among your coalition and partners.
Best practices for creating materials to share through social media, websites, community presentations, and radio or TV public service announcements.
The HCS identified seven critical steps to help communities sustain communication efforts once funding for an intervention ends.
Navigating the Fundamentals Post-HCS. How to transition ownership of campaign messaging and resources to local platforms, and secure funding for continued communication work.
The following Message Guidance documents helped HCS community coalitions develop their own campaign materials, including video testimonials of people in recovery, newspaper editorials, radio scripts, social media posts, and talking points for television coverage featuring local news or human interest stories. Each guidance document ensured that materials and activities presented a consistent, evidence-based message. The guidance is based on formative research with campaign audiences and best practices in health communication.
During the HCS campaigns, we used these backgrounders to ensure coalitions members and spokespersons delivered consistent and evidence-based messages about study activities when speaking with the media.
The Clear Communications Tip Sheets provide information on plain language and clear communication standards, readability calculators, how to select suitable imagery, and how to avoid triggering or stigmatizing language.
The Organizational Toolkit describes the various ways that businesses, faith-based organizations, schools and universities, nonprofits, and other community-based organizations can provide valuable support to prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts in their communities.
A Practical Guide for Employers, Community Leaders, and Faith Leaders
The following social media toolkits contain ready-to-use social media content with graphics to spread public awareness of topics including naloxone, the stigma of medications for opioid use disorder, and the dangers of fentanyl.
Frkovich J, Hedrick H, Anakaraonye AR, Bornkessel A, Lefebvre RC. Opioid-related public health communication campaigns: An environmental scan. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2022 Jul;36(6):913-919. doi: 10.1177/08901171221082471. Epub 2022 Apr 1. PMID: 35365055
Lefebvre RC, Chandler RK, Helme DW, Kerner R, Mann S, Stein MD, Reynolds J, Slater MD, Anakaraonye AR, Beard D, Burrus O, Frkovich J, Hedrick H, Lewis N, Rodgers E. Health communication campaigns to drive demand for evidence-based practices and reduce stigma in the HEALing communities study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020 Dec 1;217:108338. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108338. Epub 2020 Oct 5. PMID: 33152673; PMCID: PMC7534788.
Stein, M.D., Krause, C., Rodgers, E., Silwal, A., Helme, D., Slater, M., Beard, D., Lewis, N., Luster, J., Stephens, K., & Lefebvre, C. (2023). Lessons learned from developing tailored community communication campaigns in the HEALing Communities Study, Journal of Health Communication, 28:10, 699-705, doi: 10.1080/10810730.2023.2262948