Designing an Emergency Response Community for Opioid Overdoses in Philadelphia

摘要

Fatal overdoses are a common symptom of the opioid epidemic which has been devastating communities throughout the United States for decades. Philadelphia has been particularly impacted, with a drug overdose death rate of 46.8 per 100,000 individuals, far surpassing other large cities' rates. Despite city and community efforts, this rate continues to increase, indicating the need for new, more effective approaches aimed at mitigating and combating this issue. Through a human-centered design process, we investigated motivators and barriers to participation in a smartphone-based system that mobilizes community members to administer emergency care for individuals experiencing an overdose. We discuss evidence of the system's feasibility, and how it would benefit from integration with existing community-based efforts.