Home > Barriers to accurately assessing prescription opioid misuse on surveys.

Palamar, Joseph J (2019) Barriers to accurately assessing prescription opioid misuse on surveys. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 42, (2), pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2018.1521826.

Surveys are the leading method of gathering data on prevalence and correlates of prescription opioid misuse. As the opioid crisis continues in the United States, reliable data on misuse have become increasingly important as under- and overreporting is common. This perspective discusses six potential barriers to researchers accurately assessing opioid misuse on surveys. These barriers include lack of respondent drug knowledge, researchers not properly defining opioids for respondents, querying overall opioid misuse rather than misuse of specific opioids, varying terminology (e.g., of opioids and misuse), and lack of understanding of medical versus nonmedical use or misuse. Finally, a recent barrier is use of counterfeit or adulterated drugs that contain fentanyl, its analogs, or other new synthetic opioids, which can lead to underreporting of exposure. Survey researchers should consider such barriers when querying opioid misuse.


Item Type
Article
Publication Type
International, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
Opioid, Prescription/Over the counter
Intervention Type
General / Comprehensive, Screening / Assessment
Date
2019
Identification #
https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2018.1521826
Page Range
pp. 1-7
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Volume
42
Number
2
EndNote
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