Preferences for Support Resources Among Loved Ones of Adults Prescribed Opioid Medications

The opioid epidemic continues to be a leading cause of overdose and related deaths in America. While most interventions are focused on the individuals with opioid and substance use disorder (OUD/SUD); the impact caregivers and family can have on the treatment of patients with OUD is non-existent. The purpose of this study is to collect pilot data on peers, friends, and family members of patients with SUD/OUD to understand the barriers in psychosocial support and maintaining treatment retention; barriers to accessing medication assisted therapy (MAT) and naloxone; and caregiver fatigue and barriers for caregivers. The collected data will be used to develop a digital health intervention (DHI) in the form of a mobile application/web page. To develop the survey, a review of the current literature on PubMed relating to OUD/SUD and stigma, caregiver fatigue, efficacy of DHIs, readiness to change, and promoting naloxone use was conducted. The results of the review support the fact that caregivers of patients with OUD/SUD experience fatigue and often do not have accurate knowledge of how to help patients. Furthermore, DHIs were found to improve access to treatment and reduce stigma and associated barriers. The next step of the study will be to recruit caregivers, peers, and family members of individuals with OUD to conduct surveys and development of the DHI