Addressing overdose risks and fatalities in public bathrooms: insights from the development of a Safer Bathroom Toolkit in British Columbia, Canada.
Bathroom
Drugs
Harm reduction
Opioids
Overdose
Washroom
Journal
Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique
ISSN: 1920-7476
Titre abrégé: Can J Public Health
Pays: Switzerland
ID NLM: 0372714
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2023
12 2023
Historique:
received:
02
12
2022
accepted:
27
06
2023
medline:
22
11
2023
pubmed:
15
8
2023
entrez:
15
8
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In British Columbia (BC), over 11,000 people have died of an overdose since 2016. Recently, an all-party standing committee on health tabled a report identifying several gaps in BC's overdose response. Chief among these is the inequitable distribution of supervised consumption and overdose prevention services across BC and barriers to accessing services that are currently available. In this context, public bathrooms continue to act as consumption spaces and contribute to overdose-related risks and fatalities. The Safer Bathroom project sought to address long-standing policy and practice gaps by developing a toolkit to improve bathroom overdose prevention and response. Activities included a literature review and cross-sectoral, province-wide consultation (Fall 2021), the creation and launch of the Safer Bathroom Toolkit (Fall 2022), and knowledge transfer activities (ongoing). The toolkit meets four objectives. First, it provides a bathroom safety checklist that helps identify and, most importantly, mitigate safety risks. Second, it offers organizational guidance on developing a bathroom safety policy and procedure. Third, it includes practical resources such as staff training material and signs that communicate bathroom safety messages in a non-stigmatizing manner. Finally, it identifies bathroom architecture and design features that can increase or decrease overdose-related risks. The Safer Bathroom Toolkit is a highly comprehensive resource developed in response to the overdose crisis. However, significant reporting, research, policy, and practice gaps remain. This paper concludes with an overview of recommendations for advancing overdose prevention and response efforts within and beyond the bathroom context. RéSUMé: LIEU: En Colombie-Britannique (C.-B.), plus de 11 000 personnes sont décédées d’une surdose depuis 2016. Un comité multipartite en santé a récemment déposé un rapport identifiant plusieurs écarts dans la réponse du gouvernement de la C.-B. face aux surdoses. La distribution inéquitable des services de consommation supervisée et de prévention des surdoses ainsi que les barrières d’accès aux services qui sont disponibles constituent un écart important. Dans ce contexte, les toilettes publiques servent d’espaces de consommation et contribuent au risque de surdoses ainsi qu’aux surdoses mortelles. INTERVENTION: Le projet visant à améliorer la sécurité dans les toilettes publiques avait pour but de répondre à des lacunes de longue date en matière de politiques et de pratiques et ce, en proposant des outils pour prévenir les surdoses et faciliter les réponses aux surdoses en cas d’urgence. Les activités réalisées dans le cadre de ce projet incluent une revue de la littérature et une consultation intersectorielle à l’échelle provinciale (automne 2021), la création et le lancement d’une trousse d’outils (automne 2022), et les activités de transfert des connaissances (en cours). RéSULTATS: La trousse d’outils répond à quatre objectifs. Premièrement, elle contient une liste de vérification permettant d’identifier, et surtout, de diminuer les risques à la sécurité dans les toilettes publiques. Deuxièmement, elle offre des directives aux organisations qui souhaitent développer une politique et une procédure pour améliorer la sécurité dans leurs toilettes publiques. Troisièmement, elle propose des ressources pratiques pour la formation du personnel et des affiches permettant de communiquer des messages ayant pour but de promouvoir la sécurité sans toutefois stigmatiser. Finalement, elle décrit les caractéristiques architecturales pouvant augmenter ou diminuer les risques associés aux surdoses par le biais d’une fiche d’information. CONSéQUENCES: La trousse d’outils que nous avons développée contient des ressources complètes qui répondent à la crise des surdoses. Toutefois, des lacunes importantes en matière de surveillance, de recherche, de politiques, et de pratiques demeurent. Nous proposons certaines recommandations pour améliorer la réponse aux surdoses et les efforts de prévention dans les toilettes publiques et de façon plus large en conclusion de cet article.
Autres résumés
Type: Publisher
(fre)
RéSUMé: LIEU: En Colombie-Britannique (C.-B.), plus de 11 000 personnes sont décédées d’une surdose depuis 2016. Un comité multipartite en santé a récemment déposé un rapport identifiant plusieurs écarts dans la réponse du gouvernement de la C.-B. face aux surdoses. La distribution inéquitable des services de consommation supervisée et de prévention des surdoses ainsi que les barrières d’accès aux services qui sont disponibles constituent un écart important. Dans ce contexte, les toilettes publiques servent d’espaces de consommation et contribuent au risque de surdoses ainsi qu’aux surdoses mortelles. INTERVENTION: Le projet visant à améliorer la sécurité dans les toilettes publiques avait pour but de répondre à des lacunes de longue date en matière de politiques et de pratiques et ce, en proposant des outils pour prévenir les surdoses et faciliter les réponses aux surdoses en cas d’urgence. Les activités réalisées dans le cadre de ce projet incluent une revue de la littérature et une consultation intersectorielle à l’échelle provinciale (automne 2021), la création et le lancement d’une trousse d’outils (automne 2022), et les activités de transfert des connaissances (en cours). RéSULTATS: La trousse d’outils répond à quatre objectifs. Premièrement, elle contient une liste de vérification permettant d’identifier, et surtout, de diminuer les risques à la sécurité dans les toilettes publiques. Deuxièmement, elle offre des directives aux organisations qui souhaitent développer une politique et une procédure pour améliorer la sécurité dans leurs toilettes publiques. Troisièmement, elle propose des ressources pratiques pour la formation du personnel et des affiches permettant de communiquer des messages ayant pour but de promouvoir la sécurité sans toutefois stigmatiser. Finalement, elle décrit les caractéristiques architecturales pouvant augmenter ou diminuer les risques associés aux surdoses par le biais d’une fiche d’information. CONSéQUENCES: La trousse d’outils que nous avons développée contient des ressources complètes qui répondent à la crise des surdoses. Toutefois, des lacunes importantes en matière de surveillance, de recherche, de politiques, et de pratiques demeurent. Nous proposons certaines recommandations pour améliorer la réponse aux surdoses et les efforts de prévention dans les toilettes publiques et de façon plus large en conclusion de cet article.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37581749
doi: 10.17269/s41997-023-00810-4
pii: 10.17269/s41997-023-00810-4
doi:
Types de publication
Review
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
934-942Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive license to The Canadian Public Health Association.
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