Evaluation of a Drug Checking Training Program for Frontline Harm Reduction Workers and Implications for Practice

Drug checking, defined as the use of instruments (e.g. spectrometers), test strips, and other technologies to provide information on drug composition for harm reduction purposes, has emerged as a promising intervention to reduce harms of illicit drugs linked to overdose deaths. While demonstrating potential, these interventions remain limited in reach amid questions of how to reach the full population of people who use drugs and are at risk of overdose, including those outside urban areas. In response to these limitations, Substance, a drug checking project based in Victoria, Canada, developed a Distributed Model of Drug Checking and a concomitant training program.

The Distributed Drug Checking Training program eliminates need for point-of-care spectrometry technicians, instead capacitating harm reduction workers to provide drug checking using software developed by the project, infrared spectrometers, and immunoassay test strips. The training includes 5 hours of group content that can be delivered virtually, and 2 hours of practice time per learner.

Training and data collection took place between May 2022 and March 2024 with learners from 6 locations across Vancouver Island, Canada. We offered 13 training sessions, with evaluation data collected from 54 learners.

The training was evaluated across Kirkpatrick's 4 levels of training evaluation. The training was highly acceptable to learners, attributable to intended changes in knowledge and skill related to drug checking, resulted in competence to deliver drug checking through the project's Distributed Model, and facilitated expansion of drug checking services to 6 geographically distant locations.

After completing the 7-hour training program, harm reduction workers were able to deliver drug checking without need for on-site drug checking technicians. The short duration of the training and its demonstrated success with the Distributed Model of Drug Checking make this a promising approach for expanding the reach of drug checking services.