Grant: Project Grant

Overdose is a leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults ages 14 to 24 (hereafter "youth") in Canada and the US as a result of an increasingly toxic illicit drug supply. Evidence-based interventions to prevent overdoses exist but remain poorly adapted to the developmental needs of youth, and have not been implemented in most pediatric care settings. To fill these gaps, this study proposes a three-year community-engaged approach to adapting evidence-based overdose prevention interventions and combining them into a multi-strategy, written youth overdose prevention "toolkit" for use by clinicians in acute and community care settings (e.g., hospitals, drop-in clinics). The toolkit will be comprised of practical and easy-to-use guidance for delivering the following evidence-based core elements: naloxone and take-home drug testing strips, harm reduction education, and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD; e.g., buprenorphine, methadone). Our project will be conducted in British Columbia, Québec, and Massachusetts, three sites where there are currently significant efforts underway to improve access to overdose prevention for youth in acute and community care settings. Working across these sites will allow us to capitalize on existing infrastructures while also identifying how health systems differences and other important contexts may present unique barriers and facilitators to toolkit implementation. Our project will be guided by the ADAPT-ITT implementation science framework, with a focus on the Adaptation, Production, and Testing Phases. Across each phase and study site, we will collaborate closely with youth with lived experience of substance use and their caregivers via the creation of Community Advisory Boards.