(1176) Parents Perspectives on Using a Family Medication Safety Plan to Promote Adolescent Opioid Safety Through Collaborative Medication Management

Objectives: The opioid epidemic continues to have a significant impact on the population of the United States. Previous research has specifically indicated the effects of opioids on the youth in this country, thereby necessitating a call-to-action for researchers and practitioners to identify practical and effective strategies to reduce the burden of this epidemic on adolescents. One proposed strategy includes leveraging relationships through interventions that facilitate education from peers or family members to protect youth against opioid misuse. In this study, researchers designed the Family Medication Safety Plan (FMSP), a collaborative medication management tool for parents and their adolescents, with the hopes of families using this tool to establish safe opioid use practices for their household. This study aims to examine parent perspectives on how the FMSP will influence opioid medication practices for their adolescents (12 to 18) and families.

Methods: Parents living in the US were recruited via different platforms including Qualtrics research panels, email listservs, social media, and snowball sampling to participate in this study. Eligible participants were parents with a child aged 12 to 18 years old. The parents were asked to complete the FMSP as it worked best for them and their adolescent. The proposed FMSP contains various sections including Medication and Family Information, Dosage and Instructions, Medication Schedule, Proper Storage and Disposal, and Positive Communication. Upon completion of the FMSP, parent participants were then virtually interviewed in a semi-structured format with a facilitator. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed with an inductive approach by two coders

Results: Fifty-nine parents were interviewed inquiring on how the FMSP was used in their families and how this tool can be better adapted to meet the needs of their families. Participants were primarily white (79.7%), female (93.2%), and college-educated (86.5%). Due to the structure of this study, various ideas were collected from the participants. Despite this variability, common themes revolved on how the FMSP could be individualized and how the format could be modified to eliminate barriers, making the tool more inclusive for a wider population. In addition, many participants identified ways in which different providers could be used as resources to make this tool more accessible and useful for their family unit.

Conclusions: The FMSP was found to be a practical tool for the integration and evaluation of safe opioid medication practices in participants’ homes, as demonstrated by the majority of participants in this study. More importantly, the responses indicated that this tool was most beneficial when used for the specific needs of each family, highlighting that this model can be improved for future use by modifying the plan, making it a more individualized resource for families. Implementation of the FMSP into pharmacy practice can aid in addressing the opioid epidemic by educating and bringing awareness to adolescents and their parents.