Acceptability and perceived feasibility of restroom motion sensors for overdose detection and response in public bathrooms: A cross-sectional study of businesses and community organizations.

PURPOSE: Solitary drug use amplifies fatal overdose risk for people who use drugs. Restroom motion sensors (RMS) are emerging technologies to enhance detection and facilitate rapid response to overdoses in high-traffic public restrooms (where unmonitored drug use is likely to occur), but there has been limited study of employee and staff perspectives on the perceived value and appropriateness of RMS for their workplaces.

METHODS

From November 2022 to April 2024, we identified business, health, and community organizations in opioid overdose hotspots across eight townships in Rhode Island (United States of America), surveying managers and shift supervisors about the acceptability and perceived feasibility of RMS. We analyzed data descriptively, identifying bivariate correlates of RMS acceptability and feasibility, respectively, using Fisher's exact tests of association.

RESULTS

Participants (median age: 35 years, 53 % cisgender women) across 100 workplaces exhibited low awareness (4 %) but high comfort with RMS being installed (73 %) and confidence (66 %) in implementing RMS in their workplaces in the future. Organizations without staff adequately trained in overdose response were more likely than organizations with trained staff (81 % vs. 64 %, p = 0.055) to endorse confidence in RMS implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Management and shift supervisors in heterogenous occupational contexts endorsed RMS' compatibility and utility in their workplaces, despite low prior awareness of the technology. Efforts to bolster staff competencies in overdose response and equipping workplaces with the necessary tools (i.e., onsite naloxone) to respond appropriately to onsite overdoses will be imperative to successful implementation of RMS in businesses and community organizations.