Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jun 7, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 29, 2023
User Perspectives on mHealth for Opioid Use: Benefits and Barriers
ABSTRACT
Background:
The opioid crisis continues to pose significant challenges to global public health, necessitating the development of novel interventions to support individuals in managing their substance use and preventing overdose-related deaths. mHealth, as a promising platform for addressing opioid use disorder, requires a comprehensive understanding of user perspectives to minimize barriers to care and optimize the benefits of mHealth interventions.
Objective:
we aimed to evaluate the acceptability of wearable devices for opioid overdose monitoring in opioid consumers swell as the benefits and barriers with this technology.
Methods:
A scoping review of PubMed/Medline and Google Scholar databases was conducted to identify research on opioid user perspectives concerning mHealth-assisted interventions, including wearable sensors, SMS, and app-based technology.
Results:
Overall, users demonstrate a high willingness to engage with mHealth interventions to prevent overdose-related deaths and manage opioid use. Users perceive mHealth as an opportunity to access care and desire the involvement of trusted healthcare professionals in these technologies. User comfort with wearing opioid sensors emerges as a significant factor. Personally tailored content, social support, and encouragement are preferred by users. Privacy concerns and limited access to technology pose barriers to care.To maximize benefits and minimize risks for users, it is crucial to implement robust privacy measures, provide comprehensive user training, integrate behavior change techniques, offer professional and peer support, deliver tailored messages, incorporate behavior change theories, assess readiness for change, design stigma-reducing apps, utilize visual elements, and conduct user-focused research for effective opioid management in mHealth interventions.
Conclusions:
mHealth demonstrates considerable potential as a tool for addressing opioid use disorder and preventing overdose-related deaths, given the high acceptability and perceived benefits reported by users.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.