Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians

Rayven L. Peterson; Mona Goggins; Destin L. Mizelle; Brittany Miller-Roenigk; Candice N. Hargons; Danielle Stevens-Watkins

doi:10.1177/29767342251352271

Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians

Rayven L. Peterson
, Mona Goggins
, Destin L. Mizelle
, Brittany Miller-Roenigk
, Candice N. Hargons
, Danielle Stevens-Watkins

Producción científica: Article › revisión exhaustiva

2 Citas (Scopus)

Resumen

Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans’ hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.

Idioma original	English
Páginas (desde-hasta)	193-199
Número de páginas	7
Publicación	Substance Use and Addiction Journal
Volumen	47
N.º	1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/29767342251352271
Estado	Published - ene 2026

Nota bibliográfica

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 by AMERSA, Inc. (Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction)

Financiación

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this manuscript was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA: R01-DA049333; PI: Danielle Stevens-Watkins). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Financiadores

Número del financiador

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Author National Institute on Drug Abuse DA031791 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Drug Abuse DA006634 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA026117 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA028162 Elizabeth G Pitts National Institute of General Medical Sciences GM102773 Elizabeth G Pitts Peter McManus Charitable Trust Mark J Ferris National Institute on Drug Abuse

R01-DA049333

ODS de las Naciones Unidas

Este resultado contribuye a los siguientes Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible

Good health and well being

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Psychiatry and Mental health

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10.1177/29767342251352271

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title = "Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians",

abstract = "Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12\%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans{\textquoteright} hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.",

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author = "Peterson, \{Rayven L.\} and Mona Goggins and Mizelle, \{Destin L.\} and Brittany Miller-Roenigk and Hargons, \{Candice N.\} and Danielle Stevens-Watkins",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 by AMERSA, Inc. (Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction)",

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doi = "10.1177/29767342251352271",

language = "English",

volume = "47",

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AU - Peterson, Rayven L.

AU - Goggins, Mona

AU - Mizelle, Destin L.

AU - Miller-Roenigk, Brittany

AU - Hargons, Candice N.

AU - Stevens-Watkins, Danielle

PY - 2026/1

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N2 - Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans’ hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.

AB - Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans’ hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.

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KW - drug use

KW - naloxone

KW - opioids

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Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians

Resumen

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Financiación

ODS de las Naciones Unidas

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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