Using Trauma Informed Principles in Health Communication: Improving Faith/Science/Clinical Collaboration to Address Addiction.

Problematic substance use is a pressing global health problem, and dissemination and implementation of accurate health information regarding prevention, treatment, and recovery are vital. In many nations, especially the US, many people are involved in religious groups or faith communities, and this offers a potential route to positively affect health through health information dissemination in communities that may have limited health resources. Health information related to addiction will be used as the backdrop issue for this discussion, but many health arenas could be substituted.

Initial Validation and Findings From the Willing/Ready Subscale of the Church Addiction Response Scale.

Addiction has been a global health crisis over recent decades and worsened substantially during COVID-19 lockdowns. We report on the development, validation, and findings from an instrument developed to assess the readiness of churches in the Appalachian Highlands to address addiction. The Church Addiction Response Scale (CARS) is a 41-item, three section measure assessing "What are your views about addiction?" (14 items), "What are your views about interacting with people who are addicted to drugs?" (11 items), and "What do you think the church's role is in addressing addiction?" (16 items).