Developing and testing the Opioid Rapid Response System

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Abstract This Phase II SBIR will develop and demonstrate the efficacy of the Opioid Rapid Response System (ORRS) to improve responses to opioid overdoses. Opioid overdoses exact a tremendous cost in lives and expenditures. Naloxone has been developed to counteract overdoses; however, the nature of these events requires a rapid response, a situation that challenges emergency responders in both lightly populated rural areas as well as densely populated urban communities. Apps now exist with the potential to obviate timing concerns by linking lay citizen responders to events through the 911 system. One such app, PulsePoint, is already in place in 4,100 communities throughout the U.S. for cardiac events, while two other potential partners, OpiSafe and Brave, focus on overdoses and have expanding customer bases. Other communities simply distribute naloxone as widely as possible. Neither naloxone distribution nor the apps can accomplish their goals without effectively recruiting and training many citizen responders who are both able to administer life-saving naloxone and confident in their ability to do so. To date, there are no evidence-based programs to accomplish these goals. This project is designed to develop innovative and effective recruitment and training strategies to fill this gap. ORRS was based on a pilot project demonstrating that lay citizen responders could utilize the PulsePoint app to respond to overdose events. In Phase I, we developed an effective recruitment protocol based on identity theory that uses appeals to individuals (personal identity appeals) and others (communal appeals) and administered it through multi-modalities. We also developed a prototype of ORRS online training and demonstrated usability and feasibility through a study in five Indiana counties. In Phase II, ORRS recruitment will be refined to improve the performance of the social media component, the training platform will be enhanced to focus on CPR and stigma reduction as well as enhanced engagement, and a national RCT will be conducted in 8 communities. Recruitment and training effects on psychological and behavioral outcomes will be evaluated. The project has great promise for rapid and wide dissemination through the PulsePoint, OpiSafe, and Brave Technology Coop networks of communities as well as public health departments. The project has the potential to develop a model for community responses to similar public health events.