Enhancing risk perception may be insufficient to curtail prescription opioid use and misuse among youth after surgery: A randomized controlled trial.
Terri Voepel-Lewis, Phillip Veliz, Justin Heinze and 7 others
PMID 35216854WHAT IT FOUND
Youth who received an interactive opioid-risk education program before surgery had no reduction in prescription opioid use or misuse behaviors or intentions over three months.
Risk perceptions were slightly higher than controls, but that did not change use or misuse.
Key findings
01The interactive program did not reduce postoperative opioid misuse behavior or intention.
02The program also did not change the number of days participants used their prescribed opioid.
03Risk perception scores were modestly higher in the program group at day 14 and month 3, while control scores decreased over time.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
28% of eligible people approached declined, and 21% of those who consented were lost to follow-up, so the sample may not represent all patients. The participants reported lower substance use and opioid misuse than community samples of young adults, and they were more focused on avoiding analgesic risks, so effects may differ in higher-risk groups. The researchers could not confirm that participants actually read or engaged with the computer feedback, so some may have ignored it. Routine discharge education and verbal instruction may have varied between clinicians, and the study was done during the pandemic, which may have affected symptoms and results. The supplied text does not state the exact number analysed; it only says recruitment stopped when at least 164 per group was achieved.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The supplied publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the education program reduces opioid use or misuse because it made risk perception scores higher than controls. The use and misuse outcomes were null, and the risk perception effect did not translate into changed behavior.