Bereaved mothers’ media coverage and public support for harm reduction in Canada

Original research
by
Morris, Heather et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

We examined the extent to which, and who among, the general public has seen or heard mothers bereaved by substance use in the media; predicted factors associated with exposure to such media; and explored associations with public acceptance of harm reduction.

Findings/Key points

A majority (58.3%) of Canadians had seen or heard media featuring a mother whose child had died from an overdose. Respondents who had an increased level of familiarity with people who use drugs as well as older respondents were significantly more likely to have reported exposure to bereaved mothers’ media. Respondents who had been exposed to bereaved mothers’ media coverage were less likely to respond ‘don’t know/no opinion’ of harm reduction vs. opposing harm reduction.

Design/methods

We analyzed data from a 2018 online panel survey assessing Canadian views on harm reduction, using randomly-drawn provincially representative (N = 4645) and nationally representative (n = 2002) samples of adults.

Keywords

Overdose
Mortality
Parents/caregivers
Harm reduction