Identifying risks and responding to overdose: piloting of an overdose prevention programme

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Abstract
This paper reports the development and piloting of an Overdose Prevention Programme (OPP) targeted at educating drug users themselves and based on a multi-agency approach utilizing the expertise of specialist agencies and services. In the initial phase of the study, indepth, semi-structured interviews were carried out with a small number of drug users to determine commonly recurring themes and to identify myths and gaps in drug users' knowledge in respect of overdose. From information gathered, an overdose prevention questionnaire (OPQ) was designed and a survey carried out with 111 participants to gather data to determine the incidence of overdose and the accuracy of users' knowledge regarding overdose. A five-session OPP was subsequently designed to educate drug users about overdose (including risks, recognition and response) and to teach them how to pass on information to other drug users as peer educators. At completion of the pilot phase of this study, 28 drug users had enrolled for the programme, with 22 participants completing all five sessions. Initial evaluation indicates that users completing the programme significantly increased their level of knowledge relating to recognition of overdose and their ability to respond appropriately when faced with an overdose situation.