Published in

BioMed Central, Harm Reduction Journal, 1(19), 2022

DOI: 10.1186/s12954-022-00636-2

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Development of a digital platform to improve community response to overdose and prevention among harm reduction organizations

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

AbstractThe overdose crisis in the USA remains a growing and urgent public health concern. Over 108,000 people died due to overdose during 2021. Fatal and non-fatal overdoses are under-reported in the USA due to current surveillance methods. Systemic gaps in overdose data limit the opportunity for data-driven prevention efforts and resource allocation. This study aims to improve overdose surveillance and community response through developing a digital platform for overdose reporting and response among harm reduction organizations. We used a community-engaged, user-center design research approach. We conducted qualitative interviews with N = 44 overdose stakeholders including people who use drugs and harm reductionists. Results highlighted the need for a unified, multilingual reporting system uniquely tailored for harm reduction organizations. Anonymity, data transparency, protection from legal repercussions, data accuracy, and community-branded marketing emerged as key themes for the overdose platform. Emergent themes included the need for real-time data in a dashboard designed for community response and tailored to first responders and harm reduction organizations. This formative study provides the groundwork for improving overdose surveillance and data-driven response through the development of an innovative overdose digital platform.