Literature Collection

BACKGROUND: A wide range of opioid misuse motives have been documented in the literature, including to relieve physical pain, feel good/get high, relax, manage feelings/emotions, sleep, and moderate the effects of other substances. Despite a rise in opioid misuse among African Americans over the last 2 decades, their motivations for misuse remain unclear. Much of the research on opioid misuse motivations either rely on samples with little racial diversity or do not stratify their findings by race. As a result, less is known about the specific reasons why African Americans engage in opioid misuse. The objective of this study, therefore, was to identify and explain the most common motives for misusing opioids among African Americans. Qualitative interview data are also presented to explain/contextualize the most prevalent motivations. METHODS: This study used data from the Florida Minority Health Survey, a mixed-methods project that included online surveys (n = 303) and qualitative in-depth interviews (n = 30) of African Americans. Data collection was conducted from August 2021 to February 2022 throughout Southwest Florida. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that while some (33.9%) misused opioids for purposes of recreation/sensation seeking (eg, feel good/get high), the majority (66.1%) were attempting to self-treat perceived medical symptoms (eg, physical pain, anxiety/trauma, withdrawals, insomnia). CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to a better understanding of why some African Americans engage in opioid misuse and findings highlight the need for interventions to be trauma informed and address unmanaged physical pain among African Americans. Given that most studies on motivations are quantitative in nature, the study contributes to the literature by capturing the voices of African Americans who use drugs.

BACKGROUND: Effective person-centred interventions are needed to support people living with mental-physical multimorbidity to achieve better health and wellbeing outcomes. Depression is identified as the most common mental health condition co-occurring with a physical health condition and is the focus of this intervention development study. The aim of this study is to identify the key components needed for an effective intervention based on a clear theoretical foundation, consideration of how motivational interviewing can inform the intervention, clinical guidelines to date, and the insights of primary care nurses. METHODS: A multimethod approach to intervention development involving review and integration of the theoretical principles of Theory of Planned Behavior and the patient-centred clinical skills of motivational interviewing, review of the expert consensus clinical guidelines for multimorbidity, and incorporation of a thematic analysis of group interviews with Australian nurses about their perspectives of what is needed in intervention to support people living with mental-physical multimorbidity. RESULTS: Three mechanisms emerged from the review of theory, guidelines and practitioner perspective; the intervention needs to actively 'engage' patients through the development of a collaborative and empathic relationship, 'focus' on the patient's priorities, and 'empower' people to make behaviour change. CONCLUSION: The outcome of the present study is a fully described primary care intervention for people living with mental-physical multimorbidity, with a particular focus on people living with depression and a physical health condition. It builds on theory, expert consensus guidelines and clinician perspective, and is to be tested in a clinical trial.