Opioid overdose response and health information complexities: A pilot study on Naloxone kit design

Abstract

Between 2016 and 2018, more than 11,000 Canadians and 136,000 Americans died from accidental opioid overdoses—triple the number of deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents. This public health crisis is so severe that by 2017, Canadian life expectancy stopped increasing for the first time in four decades. The distribution of Naloxone kits (emergency first aid for opioid overdoses) has revealed the need for alternative ways to get training, kits, and education to audiences who are at risk of overdose. We report on an interdisciplinary study designed to better understand the barriers to adopting and using Naloxone kits for opioid overdoses. Data from the pilot phase of our research suggest that several opportunities exist in which design methods can help identify and address these barriers.