Opioid Use

Construction workers continue to use prescription opioids and other substances for relief from pain caused by excessive physical and mental demands of work. Many construction factors including non-standard work arrangements, complex organization of work and narrow profit margins create challenges for employers to create effective opioid prevention programs and recovery friendly workplaces. Employers are becoming increasingly aware of worker’s opioid use and negative health outcomes of overdose and suicide. In spite of the burden on the workplace, most employers are not sure what to do to address the problem in their workforce and on their projects. Employers need help to recognize their role and how to address these issues through changes in their policies, programs, and health benefits. The research team is currently conducting a NIDA funded project (R34DA050044) focused on opioid misuse among construction workers. They conducted a series of stakeholder interviews with construction, healthcare, insurance, and legal experts on opioid related policies and programs. The interviews revealed common gaps in policies and programs that lead to opioid misuse, and potential strategies to overcome these barriers. Workplace Opioid Prevention Guidelines for the Construction Industry are currently drafted. There is a need to address the lack of knowledge, beliefs, and self-efficacy among construction stakeholders in order for them to be motivated to adopt evidence-based policies and programs. The CDC recommends using a social marketing approach to increase uptake and usability of products for complex interventions. The purpose of this project will be to refine the draft Guidelines using a social marketing process to translate and promote uptake by a broad range of construction stakeholders. Through this process, the research team will expand the target audience of users from the construction industry to go beyond early adopters. They will first assess manager’s attitudes, beliefs, self-efficacy, and barriers toward using the Guidelines and from results, identify the audience segment we will target for using the social marketing process (Aim 1). Next, they will create and follow a marketing plan and develop the revised intervention materials through an iterative process involving manager feedback from the target audience (Aim 2). The revised Guidelines will then be assessed by a broader range of stakeholders to assess relevance, understandability, likability, credibility and willingness to change policies and practices (Aim 3). The output of the research project will be Workplace Opioid Guidelines for the Construction Industry. Working with the Outreach Core, the Guidelines be disseminated to employers and union health funds to impact workplace opioid prevention policies, programs, and practices.