Outreach to People Who Survive Opioid Overdose

Often it takes a critical moment, such as when someone survives an overdose, to motivate behavioural change.

It is particularly important that at these times people have access to the appropriate treatment.

The objective of this study was to examine if the use of a specialised mobile response team (assertive outreach) could help identify, engage, and retain people who have survived an overdose into a comprehensive treatment program. 

The researchers developed an intervention, consisting of mobile peer and paramedic outreach teams were used to engage people who survived a recent overdose into treatment.

The program is based at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and is called the Houston Emergency Response Opioid Engagement System (HEROES).

The study analysed the level of willingness to engage in the treatment, and percent who retained in treatment after 30 and 90 day periods.

Overall the researchers found that 33% of the people contacted chose to engage in treatment and 88% of these remained in treatment for the first 30 days.

The positive outcomes of the study suggest outreach programmes could be an important way to engage with people who may want to make important lifestyle changes following an overdose experience.