Adolescent and Parent Perceptions of the American College of Surgeons Safe and Effective Pain Control Brochure

OBJECTIVE: The American College of Surgeons Safe and Effective Pain Control After Surgery for Children and Teens brochure highlights the risks of prescription opioid use for adolescents undergoing surgery and outlines safe use, storage, and disposal principles. Understanding how diverse patient populations use this brochure will enable providers to deliver guideline-consistent opioid education. In this study, we solicited feedback about the brochure from adolescents who underwent surgery and their parents. METHODS: We recruited adolescents aged 13-20 years who underwent surgeries commonly associated with opioid prescriptions and their parents from a previous longitudinal survey-based cohort study measuring postoperative opioid use. Recruitment was balanced for race/ethnicity, health literacy, and language preference. We held four virtual focus groups that included English-speaking adolescents, adolescents who spoke Spanish at home, parents who preferred participation in English, and parents who preferred to participation in Spanish (n = 15). Qualitative thematic analysis of the groups' feedback was performed. RESULTS: Parents desired more procedure-specific guidance on administering opioids and more explicit directions about managing medication side effects. Adolescent participants reported that the phrasing of the brochure left them feeling alienated from its content. Both groups noted that the layout was lengthy, lacked representative images, and emphasized addiction and overdose risks to the point of making them question taking opioids at all. Finally, participants expressed learning new information about safe prescription opioid storage and disposal. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents undergoing surgery and their parents want a brief pain control brochure that contains actionable instructions regarding opioid side effects, is adolescent- and family-centered, and optimizes visual information. TYPE OF STUDY: Qualitative Focus Group. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 5.