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ABSTRACT
Social media technologies are newly emerging tools that can be used to address the growing prescription drug epidemic. In this study, we sought to determine the feasibility and acceptability of using social media to reduce complications of opioid use among patients experiencing chronic pain. Specifically, we evaluated the utility of the Harnessing Online Peer Education (HOPE) social media intervention to reduce the risk of addiction and overdose among non-cancer pain patients receiving chronic opioid therapy. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) patients receiving chronic opioid therapy and UCLA staff were invited to participate in interviews regarding the HOPE intervention. Questions focused on resources used to manage pain, the limitations and benefits of these approaches, and the likelihood of using an online community to reduce complications of opioid therapy. Using an open-coding process, three topics were identified for the patients: (1) online social support is important for improving outcomes, (2) offline social support is helpful for some patients but has limitations, and (3) a tailored, online peer support intervention is needed. Interviews with staff confirmed these results. The HOPE social media intervention and other online communities appear to be an acceptable technology for patients on chronic opioid therapy.
Acknowledgment
We wish to thank Timothy McCajor Hall for feedback on previous versions of this manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grant ID: R21DA039458); the agency played no role in the design or analysis of the study. This work was also supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant ID: R01MH106415).
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest.