Published online May 27, 2022. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v14.i5.972
Peer-review started: January 5, 2022
First decision: February 8, 2022
Revised: February 21, 2022
Accepted: April 20, 2022
Article in press: April 20, 2022
Published online: May 27, 2022
Processing time: 138 Days and 20.5 Hours
Despite high hepatitis C virus (HCV) incidence and prevalence, many substance users lack basic knowledge about HCV infection and its consequences.
HCV education targeted to persons with opioid use disorder (PWOUD) has largely utilized conventional written approaches through brochures and pamphlets. Innovative approaches, such as storytelling narrative videos, may be more appealing resulting in increased knowledge ascertainment and retention. Data are limited though on the ability of narrative videos to increase knowledge among substance users.
To assess immediate and 1 mo HCV knowledge recall and retention among substance users comparing education delivered via a storytelling narrative video to a written brochure.
PWOUD on medication for opioid use disorder were prospectively enrolled from two sites, one site reviewed the written brochure and the other site viewed the video. Participants (n = 176), matched on age, race, and gender, completed the same knowledge assessments immediately prior to and upon completion of reading the brochure or watching the video. The same assessment was completed one month later to evaluate longer-term knowledge retention. We utilized generalized linear mixed-effects models to analyze the data.
We observed that both interventions significantly increased immediate and longer-term HCV-related knowledge. Multivariate modeling revealed significant improvements in HCV-related knowledge and retention (P = 0.033) among participants who viewed the storytelling narrative video.
Storytelling narrative videos appear to be an effective strategy to increase HCV-related knowledge among PWOUD. Whether videos are an effective method to change behavior requires further investigation.
Given their ability to include multimodal techniques and their ease of distribution, storytelling narrative videos may do well as an educational cornerstone to disseminate HCV-related knowledge to vulnerable populations, such as PWOUD, as well as to the general public.