Practitioners’ perspectives on unintended effects of illicit drug use prevention public service announcements in Australia

Public service announcements (PSAs) or campaigns aimed at preventing harm can inadvertently risk creating additional harms. It remains unclear whether these unintended effects are considered during campaign development, if risk mitigation strategies are implemented, or how professionals involved perceive these issues. It is in the context of illicit drug use prevention PSAs that our research investigates and explores the perspectives of practitioners-health support professionals and advertising campaign designers and creators. Semi-structured expert interviews were conducted to capture and synthesize practitioners' perspectives which were then analysed by applying a framework to address the unintended effects of public health interventions. The results indicated that practitioners from both sectors are aware of unintended harms but place varying levels of importance on different aspects. In the case of illicit drug prevention PSAs, incorporating practitioners' perspectives in campaign development may result in mitigating the risk of potential unintended harmful effects.