The Prevention Education Partnership: A Public–Academic Partnership to Expand Overdose Education and Naloxone Training in New York City Public Schools

Abstract

There is an urgent need to ensure the opioid overdose reversal agent naloxone is available to protect youth given the increasing rates of overdose among this population. Through a public–academic partnership, overdose education and naloxone distribution training were provided to nonmedical public school staff in New York City. School staff were invited to a 90-minute in-person training. Consented participants took a pre- and post-survey to assess their overdose knowledge, confidence, and substance use stigma. A majority of respondents had never received training on how to identify an opioid overdose (70.7%) or how to administer naloxone (73.5%). Participants’ overdose knowledge, including recognition of the signs of an overdose, response actions, and confidence to respond, significantly increased pre- to post-training. Participants’ stigmatization of drug use significantly decreased following the training. Naloxone access and opioid overdose response training for nonmedical school staff is an acceptable and effective solution to expand overdose response. The significant reduction in participants’ stigmatization of drug use suggests overdose education and naloxone training that address stigma may help prevent unnecessary mortality among youth.