A community-academic partnership to develop an implementation support package for overdose prevention in permanent...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Implementation Science

Background:

• The overdose crisis disproportionately affects individuals experiencing homelessness in the U.S.
• Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is an effective intervention for homelessness, but overdose risk persists.
• There is a need to adapt overdose prevention strategies for PSH settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To refine evidence-based overdose prevention practices (EBPs) for PSH.
• To develop an associated implementation support package tailored to PSH.
• To incorporate feedback from PSH tenants, staff, and leaders.

Main Methods:

• Identified initial overdose EBPs from research and public health guidance.
• Adapted EBPs through focus groups with PSH leaders, staff, and tenants.
• Utilized the EPIS framework to guide focus group discussions on implementation factors.

Main Results:

• Conducted 16 focus groups with 40 diverse participants (tenants, staff, leaders).
• Developed the PSH Overdose Prevention (POP) Toolkit with 20 EBPs for prevention, response, harm reduction, and substance use treatment.
• Created core implementation strategies: practice facilitation, tenant-staff champion teams, and learning collaboratives.

Conclusions:

• Community-academic partnerships and lived experience input were crucial for adapting overdose prevention strategies for PSH.
• The refined approaches and implementation strategies can improve overdose prevention in PSH settings.
• Findings can inform similar efforts in other settings serving marginalized populations; a randomized trial is underway.