# Preventing prescription opioid misuse among employees working in high risk industries.

> **NIH NIH R44** · PREVENTION STRATEGIES, LLC · 2022 · $832,786

## Abstract

Abstract
 11.8 million Americans aged 12 or older reported opioid misuse in 2016. Over 40,000 people died due to
opioid-related overdoses in 2016, up 345% from 2001 to 2016. Prescription opioids have historically served as
an onboarding ramp to drugs with a high-risk of overdose, including heroin and the highly potent and
accessible, fentanyl. Strikingly, 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse or
overuse them and individuals with a history of prescription opioid abuse are 40 times more likely to abuse
heroin. In the workplace, prescription opioids for pain made up an average of 85% of prescribed pain
medications according to state-level workers’ compensation claims, and injured workers are issued opioid
prescriptions at a rate three times the national average. Construction trade workers, a 95.9% male-dominated
industry, exhibit the highest rates of opioid dispensing in workers’ compensation claims and registered nurses
and certified nursing assistants, made up of 90% women, report the greatest number of non-fatal work-related
injuries. To date, no evidence-based interventions targeting industries with a high-risk for prescription opioid
misuse and/or overuse, based on injury and prescribing rates, exist. Thus, there is a critical need for an
engaging, scalable, evidence-based intervention for the prevention of prescription opioid misuse and/or
overuse among high-risk workforce populations, namely, construction trade workers and employees in nursing.
Evidence-based mHealth interventions are an effective intervention delivery method for high-risk health
behavior interventions. The objective of this proposed research is to develop an optimized, highly effective,
mHealth intervention designed to prevent prescription opioid use among workers in industries with a high risk
for injury and opioid prescribing. The research and development performed in the proposed Phase II project
will result in a fully designed, optimized, and evaluated, market-ready product to be implemented among high-
risk industries. The specific aims of this study are to 1) Develop the remaining two fully functional intervention
components targeting motivational factors associated with intentions to use prescription opioid medications for
pain; 2) Optimize and evaluate the intervention lessons. At the completion of the proposed research and
development, our expected outcome is to have demonstrated scientific and technical merit for the first
evidence-based intervention for preventing prescription opioid misuse and/or overuse among workers of high-
risk industries.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10483933
- **Project number:** 2R44DA050404-02
- **Recipient organization:** PREVENTION STRATEGIES, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephen Hebard
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $832,786
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10483933

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10483933, Preventing prescription opioid misuse among employees working in high risk industries. (2R44DA050404-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10483933. Licensed CC0.

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