Attitude changes following short-form opioid overdose video education: a pilot study

Background Opioid overdose response training (OORT) and the need for its rapid expansion have become more significant as the opioid epidemic continues to be a health crisis in the USA. Limitation of funding and stigmatization often hinders expansion of OORT programs. Primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been widespread transition from in-person to virtual communication. However, OORT programs may benefit from long-term use of this modality of education if it can be as effective. Objective To measure the change in participant attitude after a brief, virtual OORT. Methods A 6.5-min OORT video explained recognition of opioid overdose, appropriate response and proper administration of intranasal naloxone. Pre- and post-video scores from a 19-item survey were used to determine the video's impact on participants' self-perceived competence and readiness to administer naloxone to a person with a suspected opioid overdose. Paired t tests were used in the analysis of pre- and post-video scores. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H testing were used to compare variance between several demographic subgroups of interest. Results A sample of 219 participants had a significant mean difference of 15.12 (SD 9.48; 95% CI 13.86-16.39, p < 0.001) between pre- and posttest scores. Improvements were found to be greatest in content-naive participants with lower levels of education and non-health care-related jobs than participants endorsing previous content awareness, formal naloxone training, masters, doctorate or professional degrees and health care-related jobs. Conclusion This pilot study demonstrated encouraging evidence that a brief, virtual, pre-recorded educational intervention improved participant-rated competence and readiness to administer intranasal naloxone in a suspected opioid overdose. Due to scalability and ability to overcome common healthcare accessibility barriers, short-form videos focused on key facts about naloxone and the benefits of its use could be part of a strategy for rapid expansion of OORT programs to mitigate opioid overdose fatalities.