Information Needs for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Using Buprenorphine Product: Qualitative Analysis of Suboxone-Focused Reddit Data.

Background: Buprenorphine is a Food and Drug Administration-approved medication for opioid use disorder. However, individuals with opioid use disorder often report information needs regarding buprenorphine treatment on social media platforms such as Reddit. The field lacks a systematic approach to organizing these data and characterizing treatment information needs that may be unique and unavailable elsewhere.

Objective: In this study, we curated and analyzed large-scale data from social media to characterize self-reported buprenorphine treatment information needs using a qualitative analysis.

Methods: We collected 15,253 Reddit posts from the subreddit r/Suboxone. Following a standard protocol and guidance from clinical experts, we first identified 5 main themes from the data and then manually coded 6000 posts based on these themes. Finally, we determined the most frequently appearing topics within each theme by analyzing samples from each group.

Results: Among the 6000 posts, 2417 (40.3%) contained a single theme, 2160 (36%) contained two themes, and 834 (13.9%) contained three themes. The most frequent topics found across these themes included reports of psychological and physical effects during recovery, complexities in accessing buprenorphine, and significant information gaps regarding medication administration, tapering, and substance use at different stages of recovery. Moreover, self-treatment strategies and peer-driven advice revealed potential rumors and misinformation.

Conclusions: Our findings can guide the design of interventions to improve patient education and communication. They also help address knowledge gaps and misinformation related to treatment. Additionally, the results can support hypothesis generation for future clinical research on medication for opioid use disorder treatment.