University of Washington team launches free Empathy Lens image library to reduce stigma around drug use

Meg Bruner, director of information services at the University of Washington Addictions, Drug and Alcohol Institute (ADAI), and Erin McGraw, a public information specialist at ADAI, presented the Empathy Lens Project during a National Library of Medicine Region 5 webinar hosted by Carolyn Martin on March 3.

The project offers a free online library (empathylens.org) of more than 200 photographs and a stigma-education page with tips and a printable brochure for communicators, educators and health providers. "We launched our website empathylens.org earlier this year," McGraw said, describing search, category browsing and downloadable resources the team developed for public use.

Bruner framed the need for the collection by citing national survey data on substance use disorders and the multiple ways stigma blocks care. "Stigma can lead to dehumanization or the denial of full humanness to others," Bruner said, and she told attendees that person-first language and recovery-focused wording reduce barriers to treatment.

The ADAI team said its photos were produced with consent safeguards: the collection uses staff volunteers rather than current clients to protect confidentiality, and the project partnered with three Washington organizations for site photo shoots — Blue Mountain Heart to Heart (Walla Walla), the Tacoma needle exchange, and Recovery Café South Lake Union (Seattle). McGraw said those three site visits yielded a varied set of images intended to show realistic spaces, supplies and interactions.

The presenters summarized research suggesting images can change attitudes. Bruner described a recent randomized study of more than 3,400 participants in which a photo of a person in recovery increased measured willingness to have a person who used drugs as a coworker or neighbor by roughly nine percentage points, while a photo of someone injecting drugs increased reported disgust by about 14 percentage points. She cautioned that images alone have limits: across groups the study found little change in willingness to host treatment or syringe-service programs in one’s neighborhood.

Practical guidance from the webinar emphasized avoiding dramatic or stigmatizing imagery, limiting photos of drug supplies to instances where they are necessary for instruction, showing diverse people in everyday settings, and using neutral substitutes (for example, a dictionary definition) when an image of supplies is not essential. "Avoid images that are dramatic or inaccurate," McGraw said during an audience image-rating exercise, noting that realistic, humanizing photos were the most effective at reducing stigma in the team's view.

On logistics and next steps, Bruner and McGraw said the collection is free without subscription barriers and that ADAI is seeking modest travel funding to broaden the library with additional community sites and populations. They are not accepting public photo submissions at present because University of Washington consent procedures for people photographed would make open submissions complicated.

During Q&A, presenters confirmed a paid summer internship opportunity for UW undergraduates to help develop stigma-education outreach, discussed cautious views about using AI-generated imagery for this work, and said usage data is currently limited to overall download counts and anecdotal reports of adoption by academics and harm reduction organizations.

Carolyn Martin, NNLM Region 5 outreach and education coordinator, closed the session by reminding attendees that slides and a recording would be posted and that CE-credit instructions would appear in the chat. The Empathy Lens collection and stigma-education materials are available now at empathylens.org.