Piloting a Naloxone Intervention in Philadelphia

September 20, 2021 updated by: Drexel University

Piloting a Naloxone Intervention in an Emergency Response Community to Reduce Opioid Overdoes in Philadelphia

The escalating opioid overdose epidemic is one of the most serious public health problems confronting the U.S. Death due to drug overdose is a significant and rising cause of mortality and morbidity in Philadelphia. While naloxone is increasingly accessible to combat opioid overdoses, new responses to delivering naloxone to overdose events are needed. The proposed pilot project, to be conducted in Philadelphia, will pursue three specific aims: 1) Identify barriers and facilitators of acceptance and use of a smartphone-based naloxone intervention; 2) Pilot test the implementation of the intervention among 55 non-medical opioid users and 55 community members; 3) Synthesize knowledge acquired in Aims 1 and 2 to be used in a subsequent R01 study to conduct a large-scale, multi-site implementation trial.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The escalating opioid overdose epidemic is one of the most serious public health problems confronting the U.S. In 2014, a record 47,055 people died from a drug overdose in the U.S., which outnumbered deaths from motor vehicle crashes by approximately one and a half times. Heroin and misuse of prescription opioids contributed to a majority of drug overdoses in 2014. Death due to drug overdose is a significant and rising cause of mortality and morbidity in Philadelphia. In 2015, almost 700 drug overdose deaths were reported in Philadelphia - twice as many as deaths from homicide. In response, health policy, legislation, and research funding are increasingly converging in support of the distribution of naloxone, an opioid antagonist, and community-based opioid overdose prevention programs (OPP). The success of OPP is contingent upon the willingness and effectiveness of bystanders to respond to an overdose event and administer naloxone. Emergency Response Communities (ERC) are specialized smartphone-based social networks in which members are approved carriers and/or potential users of a specific medication, such as naloxone. The ERC approach is ideally suited to support, facilitate, and encourage naloxone administration in opioid overdose emergencies, but is untested to date. The model combines GPS and IP-location tracking to identify potential opioid overdose through a smartphone application or app. Towards this end, we are proposing the development and pilot testing of a smartphone app-based naxolone intervention (ERC-NAX) in an ERC in Philadelphia. Research is needed to understand the needs and barriers in communities at high-risk for opioid overdose that will enable effective design, adaption, and implementation of an ERC-NAX app. Guided by preliminary data from study investigators, the proposed pilot project will pursue three specific aims: 1) Identify barriers and facilitators of acceptance and use of a smartphone-based ERC naloxone intervention; 2) Pilot test the implementation of ERC-NAX in an ERC consisting of 55 non-medical opioid users and 55 community members; 3) Synthesize knowledge acquired in Aims 1 and 2 to be used in a subsequent R01 study to conduct a large-scale, multi-site implementation trial. This 3-year study will provide actionable evidence regarding the viability and acceptance of an app-based naloxone intervention following the ERC model. It will be developed and tested in partnership with two community partners in Philadelphia with extensive experience in overdose prevention. This proposed intervention is significant since it leverages the growing success of OPP and will empower communities at high-risk for opioid overdose to provide rapid, secure, and effective emergency response in the event of overdose. This novel intervention, which is designed to augment emergency medical services in the rapid delivery of naloxone to overdose victims, may be effective at deescalating the epidemic of opioid overdose fatalities in Philadelphia and communities elsewhere.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

110

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19134
        • Kensington

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

55 non-medical users of opioids (NMOU) (e.g., prescription opioids, heroin) and 55 community members who know active, former, or deceased NMOU.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Weekly misuse of heroin and/or rx opioid during past 30 days OR knows active, former, or deceased NMOU 2. Currently lives in zip codes 19122, 19125, 19133, 19134 3. Willingness to carry naloxone 4. Owns smartphone/data package 5. 18 years old or older 6. Speaks/reads English

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Younger than 18
  2. Does not speak/read English

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Use of mobile phone app
Time Frame: One year
Will persons equipped with the mobile phone app signal overdoses and/or respond to overdoses when signaled.
One year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Drexel University

Collaborators

Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Stephen Lankenau, PhD, Drexel University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 23, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 4, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 4, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

October 10, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 22, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 20, 2021

Last Verified

September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1705005398

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

No plan to share IPD with other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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