Family Support Groups of People Who Use Opioids Could Be Effective Overdose Prevention

Opioid use is a growing problem in the United States, with more than 20 million Americans currently using illegally obtained drugs, misusing prescription opioids or using street opioids such as heroin. As a result, drug overdose has surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death due to injury in the U.S. These deaths often are preventable with the use of naloxone, a medication that quickly reverses the potentially fatal effects of opioids.

The success of naloxone has spurred a movement of community programs to help train opioid users and their loved ones on how to correctly identify a drug overdose and administer this life-saving medication. However, little is known about how effective or how to target these programs.

Researchers at BUSM recently conducted a study on these community support groups and determined that they are promising venues to conduct overdose prevention trainings. Results, published in Substance Abuse, show that participants tend to be parents (mostly mothers) who provide financial support for their son or daughter, have daily contact with their loved one, have applied for court-mandated treatment and have witnessed an overdose.

In order to assess the characteristics of participants in support groups for family members of opoid users, researchers from BUSM and Boston Medical Center surveyed a cross section of attendees and found that the common demographic for these meetings was mothers of opioid users, many of whom provided financial support to their child. They also found their main motivation to be acquiring naloxone for their homes.

“The high degree of involvement in the lives of an opioid user among attendees is consistent with reported motivations to have a kit in the house for a greater sense of security and improved confidence to handle an overdose,” explained lead author Sarah Bagley, MD, from the Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit at BUSM and BMC and a physician in General Internal Medicine at BMC.

The researchers suggest that overdose education programs at support groups for family members should be considered as part of an overdose prevention public health strategy.

“Support groups for families of people who use opioids are promising venues to conduct overdose prevention trainings, because attendees are motivated to receive training and will use naloxone to rescue people when witnessing an overdose. However, further study is warranted to understand how to optimize this approach to overdose prevention in the community setting,” Bagley adds.