Understanding the Effects of Digital Storytelling on OUD Stigma Reduction: Exploring Character and the Recovery Plot

Stigma interferes with all aspects of opioid use disorder (OUD) recovery. One way to reduce public stigma of OUD is through exposure to a type of digital storytelling, in which the public is exposed to outgroup storytellers sharing their experiences with recovery in short videos or narratives posted online. The past two decades have seen an explosion in digital storytelling projects, but we still have much to understand about why exposure to digital stories reduces public stigma. We drew upon theorizing in narrative persuasion, mediated intergroup contact, and character construction to make a predictive model. In addition, we considered how differences in the end of a recovery plot (e.g., abstinence) shape narrative processes and effects. The theorized model and research questions were tested with an experiment (N = 232) informed by a real digital story from the StoryPowered Initiative. The results showed support for the theoretical model: exposure to a digital recovery story reduced negative stereotypes and promoted willingness to have future interactions with people living with OUD via narrative involvement, character fluidity, intergroup anxiety, intergroup ease, and outgroup variability. The results also showed that, compared to other conditions, a recovery plot that included medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs) then abstinence resulted in stronger perceptions of character fluidity, which, in turn, predicted the mechanisms and outcomes of stigma reduction. We consider the theoretical and practical implications of these results.