ArticleHealth promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2024
Perceptions of overdose response hotlines and applications among rural and remote individuals who use drugs in Canada: a qualitative study.
Article in Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring the impact of stigma on the health of inclusion health groups: a qualitative scoping review and critical analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Mapping the overdose crisis in Ontario: geographic disparities in opioid-related harms and services.BMC public health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe overdose epidemic continues to be one of the largest public health crises in Canada. Various harm reduction supports have been implemented to curb this epidemic; however, they remain concentrated within urban settings. To address this limitation, overdose response hotlines and applications (ORHA) are novel, technologybased harm reduction services that may reduce drug-related mortality for people who use substances (PWUS) living in rural communities through virtual supervised consumption. These services enable more timely and remote activation of emergency responses, should an individual become unresponsive. We aimed to explore the experiences, perceptions and attitudes surrounding ORHA of individuals living in rural areas.
methodsWe conducted semistructured interviews with 15 PWUS (7 [46.7%] male, 9 [60%] Indigenous) who lived in rural, remote or Indigenous communities. Interviews were conducted until data saturation was reached. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
resultsSix key themes emerged: (1) participants viewed ORHA as a pragmatic intervention for rural areas but noted potential limitations to its uptake and effectiveness; (2) rural geography may hinder EMS response times, reducing the efficacy of ORHA; (3) ORHA uptake may be limited due to significant stigma faced by PWUS in these communities; (4) lack of access to technology remains a barrier to ORHA access; (5) harm reduction awareness is often limited in rural communities; and (6) there are unique social implications around substance use and harm reduction for rural Indigenous PWUS.
conclusionWhile participants believed that ORHA may be a feasible harm reduction strategy for rural PWUS, limitations, including response times, technological access and substance use stigma, remain.
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