Evaluation of an Interactive Opioid Risk Education Program (STOMP) for Parents

Overview

Millions of children and adolescents are prescribed opioid pain relievers each year, placing them at risk for serious adverse events and misuse in the home setting. Parents who manage these medicines, therefore, need to recognize opioid-related risks and make decisions that will both reduce these risks yet ensure effective pain relief for their children. The proposed research will evaluate new strategies to help parents learn about opioid risks, make safe and effective analgesic decisions, and develop and demonstrate safe drug management behaviors. 840 parents and their children who are undergoing an elective surgical procedure will be recruited. Parents will be randomized to receive the new educational and practical behavioral strategy or routine information. Parents' knowledge and perceptions will be evaluated at baseline and at critical times after surgery. Parents' opioid handling and administration will also be assessed.

The overarching goal of this research is to improve opioid analgesic safety and efficacy by optimizing opioid risk recognition, informed analgesic decision-making, and drug storage/disposal behaviors among parents of youth who are prescribed these agents for home use. The study aims are to determine whether the Scenario-Tailored Opioid Messaging Program (STOMP) will: 1) Improve parents' opioid risk understanding and their analgesic decision-making; 2) Enhance parents' analgesic self-efficacy, analgesic use, storage behaviors and their children's pain outcomes, and 3) To demonstrate that the STOMP plus provision of a simple method to get rid of left-over opioids will effectively nudge parents to safely dispose of left-over opioid analgesics. Parents whose children are prescribed opioids for acute, short-lived pain after surgery will be randomly assigned to receive our interventions or a routine provider informational interaction at the time of opioid prescribing. Parents will be surveyed about their opioid familiarity, knowledge, risk perceptions and common analgesic decision-making at baseline and after hospital discharge. Parents will also record their child's pain medication use and symptoms after discharge. Data will be analyzed to determine whether the STOMP educational intervention with or without the behavioral nudge intervention will enhance parents' risk perceptions, their decision-making skills and their opioid handling behaviors.