Abstract
Misinformation about overdose risk from accidentally inhaling or touching fentanyl is widespread among police in the United States. This may aggravate already elevated burdens of officer stress and burnout, while chilling lifesaving overdose response. Police education has shown promise in reducing false beliefs about fentanyl. To better understand the potential of training interventions in correcting officer knowledge, we administered a 10-min online training with corrective messaging about occupational overdose risk from fentanyl contact to 204 police officers in Indiana. Overall, 129 officers (63%) completed baseline survey and 69 (34%) completed follow-up instrument. Using a 6-point Likert scale, we documented assent with the statement: “First responders who encounter fentanyl are at great risk of overdose by touching it or inhaling it.” At baseline, 79.8% expressed agreement, while 20.2% disagreed. At follow-up, 39.1% agreed, while 60.9% disagreed (p < .001). Baseline responses varied in that those officers without a college degree and those on patrol were more likely to report false beliefs. A brief online training intervention holds promise for correcting false beliefs about the risk of fentanyl overdose under circumstances commonly encountered by police.
Highlights
In 2016, as an increasing number of overdose deaths were attributable to fentanyl, the highly potent synthetic opioid, the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued misinformation about fentanyl exposure
To confirm the potential of such corrective messaging, this study examined the effects of a similar training intervention among Indiana police officers
Officers were asked to rate how much they agree with the statement “First responders who encounter fentanyl are at great risk of overdose by touching it or inhaling it” and as illustrated in Table 2, baseline survey results (N = 129) suggest that 79.8% (n = 103) agreed that there is risk of overdose from touching or inhaling fentanyl while 20.1% (n = 26) disagreed
Summary
In 2016, as an increasing number of overdose deaths were attributable to fentanyl, the highly potent synthetic opioid, the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued misinformation about fentanyl exposure. It warned that “fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin or accidental inhalation of airborne powder can occur. It may lead officers to take unnecessary precautions in responding to scenes where fentanyl is suspected, wasting time in effective overdose response. It perpetuates community-wide stigma against people who use drugs by inaccurately portraying them as toxic and dangerous to be around. Many of the reported fentanyl exposure incidents among police share the symptoms of a panic attack rather than an opioid; overdose, and no incidents to our knowledge have been confirmed as overdoses by exposure (Herman et al, 2020)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
