Fentanyl Overdose Harm Reduction Intervention: A Pretest-Posttest Study Among High School Students in Southern California

Fentanyl is a highly potent and dangerous synthetic opioid pervasively contributing to the opioid overdose epidemic in the U.S. Illicitly sold opioids with fentanyl are dangerous as they are uncontrolled and can lead to rapid deterioration of health, especially among growing adolescents. Within Los Angeles County, fentanyl-related deaths tied to opioid overdoses have led to a sharp increase in mortality rates. The purpose of this pre-post design study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two harm reduction videos developed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. This pilot study measured the changes in the level of knowledge and attitudes that contribute to substance use behaviors among high school students ( N =76). The participants included high school students recruited from two local schools. Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests were used to measure changes in attitude and level of knowledge pre-and post-test using the statistical software SPSS 29.0. Overall, the results indicate a statistically significant improvement in the level of knowledge and change in attitudes post-test and at the 3-month follow-up. The retention of overdose knowledge information did not change significantly between post-test and the 3-month follow-up, potentially due to the low sample size. The study has several implications for public health education and substance use prevention practitioners, including the importance of effective community collaborations, improved access to harm reduction resources, and large-scale adoption of feasible educational interventions to reverse the trajectory of opioid overdoses among adolescents.