PONE-D-24-07101How do stigma and efficacy beliefs regarding opioid use disorder treatment and naloxone change in communities participating in the HEALing Communities Study intervention?PLOS ONE

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PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: This is a very interesting study. Kindly see my minor comments below.

1. Why are there so many authors involved in this study?

2. In the methodology section, the study design used is not clearly indicated. Please amend this section to include information on the study design used.

3. Why did you use per-protocol analysis instead of intention-to-treat analysis in your study?

4. From lines 135–39, there are different time points for conducting interviews, i.e., the CEQ timeline, for the intervention group (W1) and comparison group (W2). How could these differences contribute to bias and impact the validity of your result?

5. In line 146, what do you mean by the statement “residents ≥ 18”? If you intend to indicate the inclusion criteria of your study participants as “residents ≥ 18 years," please amend it to reflect the proposed change.

6. In Line 183, the statement “Higher response scores suggested less belief in efficacy regarding OUD treatment” is not clear. The given 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) for the item stated, “Once you have an opioid addiction or opioid use disorder, there’s not much you can do about it,” indicated that the higher response scores suggested a higher belief in efficacy regarding OUD treatment. Kindly provide explanations for this observation or amend it accordingly to be in line with the proposed 5-point Likert scale. A similar observation was seen in lines 184–87.

7. In the result section, why were only 63 communities included in Table 1 for baseline data (CEQ1) instead of 66 communities?

The overall quality of English is good, but language and grammar edits can further strengthen the manuscript.

Reviewer #2: The title of the article can be trimmed a little, it is 23 word titles can be reduced to 20 or less. The data is not made available but explanation is given as to why, which is understandable. The article will add to the body of knowledge.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Abdulrahman Ahmad

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Stigma and efficacy beliefs regarding opioid use disorder treatment and naloxone in communities participating in the HEALing Communities Study intervention

PONE-D-24-07101R1

Dear Dr. Lewis,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Sairah Hafeez Kamran, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE