Comparison of experiential contact and theoretical education in reducing stigma toward alcohol and substance use disorders among medical students: an intervention-based study

Alcohol and substance use disorders (ASUD) are a significant public health issue that negatively impacts individuals’ mental, physical, and social functioning and places a serious burden on the healthcare system. Stigmatization towards individuals with ASUD has a negative effect on access to treatment, trust in the patient-physician relationship, and social integration. The literature suggests that theoretical knowledge alone is insufficient to change stigmatizing attitudes, and that experiential learning methods involving direct patient contact may be more effective. This quasi-experimental study aimed to compare the effects of experiential contact-based education and theoretical education alone on medical students’ perceived stigma, perceived dangerousness, fear, and social distance toward individuals with alcohol and substance use disorders. This quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study included 149 fifth-year medical students from two medical faculties in Ankara, Türkiye. The intervention group received theoretical addiction education plus a one-month experiential contact component in an addiction treatment center, whereas the comparison group received standardized theoretical addiction education alone. Outcomes were assessed before and after training using the Perceived Stigma of Addiction Scale, Perceived Dangerousness Scale, Fear Scale, and Social Distance Scale. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and gender-adjusted MANCOVA with 5,000 bootstrap resamples were used; between-group effect sizes were reported as partial eta squared. In the experiential contact group, perceived stigma, dangerousness, fear, and social distance scores decreased significantly across all assessed domains ( p < .001). In the theoretical education comparison group, a significant decrease was observed only in social distance toward marijuana ( p = .004). Between-group analyses favored the experiential contact group across all change scores, with partial η² values ranging from 0.077 to 0.187. Experiential contact-based education was associated with broader reductions in stigma-related outcomes than theoretical education alone. Findings reveal that direct patient contact and real-life stories bring changes at the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels. This comparative model, conducted for the first time in the Turkish context, provides important evidence for innovative educational strategies that will contribute to reducing stigma towards addiction. Not applicable this was a quasiexperimental educational intervention and did not evaluate a clinical treatment trial.