City Research Online

Abstract

Educational interventions that counter myths about alcohol use disorder with facts have the potential to reduce public stigma. Few such interventions have hitherto been rigorously developed. Using a Delphi expert consensus method, this study identified myths and facts to include in an intervention targeting the public stigma of alcohol use disorder. Sixteen UK-based experts (four academics, five clinicians and seven experts-by-experience) completed three sequential online survey rounds. The first round was used alongside a systematic review of the literature on public alcohol use disorder stereotypes to develop 13 myth-fact pairs, which participants quantitively scored in subsequent rounds to determine their importance for inclusion. Pairs reaching consensus (>70% agreement) on high importance (mean score, 7–9) challenged beliefs that alcohol use disorder ‘only affects certain groups’, and that people with alcohol use disorder ‘cannot recover’, are ‘to blame’ for, and ‘able to control’, their drinking. The myth-fact pairs scored as most important relate to responsibility- and recovery-based themes and provide a basis for future educational interventions for public alcohol use disorder stigma.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Publisher Keywords:	Delphi method, alcohol use disorder, anti-stigma interventions, expert consensus, public stigma, 3202 Clinical sciences, 3209 Neurosciences, 5202 Biological psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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