Assessment of Provider Attitudes Toward #Naloxone on Twitter

BACKGROUND:

As opioid overdose rates continue to pose a major public health crisis, the need for naloxone treatment by emergency first responders is critical. Little is known about the views of those who administer naloxone. The current study examines attitudes of health professionals on the social media platform Twitter to better understand their perceptions of opioid users, the role of naloxone and potential training needs.

METHODS:

Public comments on Twitter regarding naloxone were collected for a period of three consecutive months. The occupations of individuals who posted tweets were identified through Twitter profiles or hashtags. Categories of emergency service first responders and medical personnel were created. Qualitative analysis using a grounded theory approach was used to produce thematic content. The relationships between occupation and each theme were analyzed using Pearson chi-square statistics and post-hoc analyses.

RESULTS:

A total of 368 individuals posted 467 naloxone-related tweets. Occupations consisted of professional first responders such as emergency medical technicians (EMTs), firefighters, and paramedics (n = 122); law enforcement officers (n = 70); nurses (n = 62); physicians (n = 48); other health professionals including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, counselors, social workers (n = 31); naloxone-trained individuals (n = 12); and students (n = 23). Primary themes included burnout, education and training, information-seeking, news updates, optimism, policy and economics, stigma, and treatment. The highest levels of burnout, fatigue and stigma regarding naloxone and opioid overdose were among nurses, EMTs, other health care providers and physicians. In contrast, individuals who self-identified as "naloxone-trained" had the highest optimism and the lowest amount of burnout and stigma.

CONCLUSIONS:

Provider training and refinement of naloxone administration procedures is needed to improve treatment outcomes and reduce provider stigma. Social networking sites such as Twitter may have potential for offering psychoeducation to health care providers.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/Ha5SlI

By:  Haug NA1, Bielenberg J1, Linder SH2, Lembke A3.

• 1 PGSP-Stanford University Psy.D. Consortium, Palo Alto University , Los Altos , CA , USA.
• 2 VA Palo Alto Health Care System , Palo Alto , CA , USA.
• 3 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences , Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford , CA , USA.
• Subst Abus. 2016 Feb 9:0.  

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Peer Supporter Experiences of Home Visits for People with HIV infection

This study’s purpose was to explore the experiences of peer supporters regarding their work in a home visit program for people with HIV infection.

A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using focus groups. Participants were 12 HIV-positive peer supporters conducting home visits with people living with HIV/AIDS in South Korea. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Six major themes emerged: feeling a sense of belonging; concern about financial support; facing HIV-related stigma and fear of disclosure; reaching out and acting as a bridge of hope; feeling burnout; and need for quality education. The study findings indicate that although peer supporters experience several positive aspects in the role, such as feelings of belonging, they also experience issues that make it difficult to be successful in the role, including the position’s instability, work-related stress, and concerns about the quality of their continuing education.

The findings suggest that to maintain a stable and effective peer supporter program, such positions require financial support, training in how to prevent and manage stress associated with the role, and a well-developed program of education and training...

Support from the home visit service was not enough, but it was great help for me, especially when I was cut off from my family and society and sick. I felt embraced by peer supporters. It helped me to cope with difficulties, to regain my health including emotional stability, and to transform myself as a peer supporter.

Full article at: http://goo.gl/cwJlH4

By: Han Ju Lee,1 Linda Moneyham,2 Hee Sun Kang,3 and Kyung Sun Kim4

1Department of Nursing, Sangmyung University, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea

2School of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

3Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea

4Gyeonggi Branch, Korean Alliance to Defeat AIDS, Anyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight