Public attitudes and beliefs about Virginia community pharmacists dispensing and administering naloxone

Abstract

Objectives: To determine awareness concerning naloxone and perceived severity of opioid overdose, to identify attitudes and beliefs concerning naloxone, and to assess perceived benefits and barriers related to naloxone dispensed and administered by community pharmacists.

Methods: The project was conducted in 3 phases. Phase 1 consisted of survey development and pretesting to identify unclear questions. The survey used principles of the health belief model, focusing on perceived severity of opioid overdose, perceived barriers and benefits to community pharmacists dispensing and administering naloxone, naloxone awareness, sources of health information, and attitudes and beliefs about naloxone. Question types were 5-point Likert response scale with several multiple choice and dichotomous questions. In phase 2, the paper-based survey was distributed to adults in the Richmond area from December 2016 to June 2017. Phase 3 consisted of data analysis using descriptive statistics.

Results: One hundred twenty-nine individuals with a mean age of 35.4 years (56.7% male and 44.4% white) completed the survey. Opioid overdose was identified as a serious problem in the Richmond area and the United States by 71.9% and 81.3% of respondents, respectively. Among respondents, 39.5% had heard of naloxone before the survey. Most respondents were comfortable with a community pharmacist dispensing and administering naloxone (66.4% and 64.0%, respectively). Of the 31 respondents who were not comfortable with pharmacists dispensing or administering naloxone, 18 respondents identified promoting drug abuse and misuse and 12 respondents identified promoting reckless behavior as a perceived barrier.

Conclusions: While most survey respondents were not aware of naloxone before completing the survey, the majority were in favor of community pharmacists in Virginia dispensing and administering naloxone. The most commonly identified concern is that pharmacists dispensing naloxone would promote drug abuse and misuse, which should be addressed with patient education.