SSESW, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jun 15;11:1080629. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1080629. eCollection 2023.
A record number of Opioid-related deaths occurred in Northern Ireland in 2021 and it is acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic compounded drugs related deaths crisis. This co-production study set out to refine the design of a wearable device for Opioid users to detect and subsequently prevent a potential overdose situation.
Purposive sampling was used to recruit people who had substance use disorders and were living in a hostel and prison during the Covid-19 pandemic. Principles of co-production influenced the study, which encompassed a focus group phase and a wearable phase. The initial phase included three focus groups with participants who inject Opioids and one focus group with workers from a street injector support service. During the wearable phase, the participant group tested the feasibility of the wearable technology in a controlled environment. This included testing the transferability of data from the device to a backend server on the cloud.
All focus group participants expressed an interest in the wearable technology when it was presented to them and agreed, that in principle, such a device would be extremely beneficial to help reduce the risk of overdose within the active drug using community. Participants outlined factors which would help or hinder the design of this proposed device and their decision to wear it, if it were readily available to them. Findings from wearable phase indicated that it was feasible to use a wearable device for monitoring Opioid users' biomarkers remotely. The provision of information regarding the specific functionality of the device was considered key and could be disseminated via front line services. The data acquisition and transfer process would not be a barrier for future research.
Understanding the benefit and disadvantages of technologies such as a wearable device to prevent Opioid-related deaths will be critical for mitigating the risk of overdose for people who use Heroin. It was also clear that this would be particularly relevant during Covid-19 lock-down periods, when the effects of the pandemic further exacerbated the isolation and solitude experienced by people who use Heroin.
2021 年，北爱尔兰阿片类药物相关死亡人数创历史新高，人们认识到，新冠疫情加剧了与毒品相关的死亡危机。本合作研究旨在改进一款可穿戴设备的设计，以便阿片类药物使用者检测并随后预防潜在的用药过量情况。
采用目的性抽样，在新冠疫情期间，从居住在旅舍和监狱中的有药物使用障碍的人群中招募参与者。合作生产原则影响了这项研究，其中包括焦点小组阶段和可穿戴阶段。初始阶段包括 3 个注射阿片类药物的参与者焦点小组和一个街头注射者支持服务工作者焦点小组。在可穿戴阶段，参与者小组在受控环境中测试可穿戴技术的可行性。这包括测试设备数据向云端后端服务器的传输。
当向所有焦点小组参与者展示可穿戴技术时，他们都表示出了兴趣，并同意，原则上，此类设备对于帮助减少活跃药物使用者群体用药过量的风险将极其有益。参与者概述了有助于或阻碍该拟议设备设计的因素，以及他们如果能够获得该设备，是否愿意佩戴。可穿戴阶段的研究结果表明，远程监测阿片类药物使用者生物标志物的可穿戴设备是可行的。提供有关设备特定功能的信息被认为是关键，可以通过一线服务进行传播。数据采集和传输过程不会成为未来研究的障碍。
了解可穿戴设备等技术预防阿片类药物相关死亡的好处和弊端，对于减轻使用海洛因者用药过量的风险至关重要。很明显，在新冠疫情封锁期间，这一点尤为重要，因为疫情的影响进一步加剧了使用海洛因者的孤立和孤独感。
