Barriers to Implementing Naloxone Distribution Programs in Community-Based Substance Abuse and Corrections Programs

• In Event: Factors Influencing Opioid Overdose Prevention Practices in Substance Abuse and Community Corrections Programs

Abstract

Despite evidence of naloxone’s ability to reduce overdose mortality, many community-based organizations that serve offenders have been slow to adopt naloxone distribution (ND) programs. This is due to a number of reasons, which include costs, staff reluctance to carry and administer naloxone, competing treatment philosophies, concerns about liability, and endorsements of myths regarding the role of naloxone in recovery and corrections. Few studies have empirically examined the organizational, systemic, and attitudinal variables associated with adoption of ND programs for the criminal justice population. Most notably lacking is research conducted in community-based environments that provide treatment to opioid dependent offenders, such as halfway houses, CBCFs, and public substance abuse programs. Using data from telephone interviews with more than 700 program directors across 70 counties designated as high overdose death counties in Ohio, this study estimates a model of adoption of ND programs. The study also examines the relative importance of specific types of financial, structural, and cultural barriers to ND program adoption.

Authors

• Erin Winstanley, University of Cincinnati

• Kimberly Sperber, Center for Health and Human Services Research, Talbert House

• Amber Nicole Manzo, University of Cincinnati