TY - JOUR
T1 - Rethinking ‘carriage’ of take-home naloxone
AU - McDonald, Rebecca
AU - Parkin, Stephen
AU - Eide, Desiree
AU - Neale, Joanne
AU - Clausen, Thomas
AU - Metrebian, Nicola
AU - Carter, Ben
AU - Strang, John
N1 - Funding Information:
Rebecca McDonald: RMcD received conference-related travel funding and an honorarium from IOTOD (Improving Opioid Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence) in 2018. RMcD's employer (King's College London) has received a research grant from Mundipharma Research Ltd for an observational cohort study of take-home naloxone provision in Europe. Separately, King's College London registered intellectual property on a novel buccal naloxone formulation, naming RMcD as co-inventor. RMcD worked as a consultant on community-based naloxone access in Central Asia and Eastern Europe for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; 2016–17).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Take-home naloxone (THN) provision to people who use drugs, their family/friends, and non-medical personnel is considered a public health strategy to improve community-based naloxone access and reduce the time to antidote treatment for opioid overdose in order to prevent fatal outcome. THN programs typically report up to three performance indicators: the volume of THN kits distributed, the rate of requests for re-supply of THN kits (e.g., following naloxone use for overdose reversal), and – increasingly – THN “carriage”. In this Research Methods piece, we discuss the current shortcomings in the latter measurement of THN carriage from a mixed-methods perspective and describe possible implications for public health related research and improved data analyses. We present an argument for the need to improve research methods in the case of THN “carriage” and propose a multidimensional measurement structure that takes into account: 1) the location of the THN kit relative to its owner, 2) the owner's immediate access to the kit in an emergency, 3) the type of THN device, and 4) the purpose of THN ownership (i.e., for use in self or known/unknown other/s).
AB - Take-home naloxone (THN) provision to people who use drugs, their family/friends, and non-medical personnel is considered a public health strategy to improve community-based naloxone access and reduce the time to antidote treatment for opioid overdose in order to prevent fatal outcome. THN programs typically report up to three performance indicators: the volume of THN kits distributed, the rate of requests for re-supply of THN kits (e.g., following naloxone use for overdose reversal), and – increasingly – THN “carriage”. In this Research Methods piece, we discuss the current shortcomings in the latter measurement of THN carriage from a mixed-methods perspective and describe possible implications for public health related research and improved data analyses. We present an argument for the need to improve research methods in the case of THN “carriage” and propose a multidimensional measurement structure that takes into account: 1) the location of the THN kit relative to its owner, 2) the owner's immediate access to the kit in an emergency, 3) the type of THN device, and 4) the purpose of THN ownership (i.e., for use in self or known/unknown other/s).
KW - Harm reduction
KW - Measurement
KW - Naloxone
KW - Opioid
KW - Overdose
KW - Research methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103972325&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103253
DO - 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103253
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103972325
SN - 0955-3959
VL - 95
JO - International Journal of Drug Policy
JF - International Journal of Drug Policy
M1 - 103253
ER -