PONE-D-24-01041Perspectives of people experiencing homelessness with recent non-fatal street drug overdose, on the Pharmacist and Homeless Outreach Engagement and Non-medical Independent prescribing Rx (PHOENIx) interventionPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Farmer,

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Andrew Scheibe, MBChB MPH

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Thank you for submitting this paper.

Please review and respond to the reviewer comments.

Additional things to address:

In methods, describe the ratio of people approached/ invited to participate and any people that declined participation (response rate).

Table 2: methadone dose - please correct to show what the dose was in mg (it should not be mg/ml).

The description of limitations seems to be limited to "participant experiences of the intervention." Consider reflecting on potential selection and information bias that may have influenced the findings and how these where mitigated and any potential influence they may have had on the findings.

The conclusion could be strengthened. Consider including additional recommendations around future research, and and on the utility of using the NPT framework in research of this nature and in other contexts.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Thank you for the opportunity to review your manuscript. It was most interesting to read, and one has a clear sense that this is crucial advocacy work regarding services to people who use drugs and who are experiencing homelessness. I really do hope that the publication of your work will have a positive impact on the restoration of the person-centred services you describe for these marginalised groups in your area.

The manuscript is very well-written, clear and easy to read and follow. The settings is well-described, and the methodology is sound. The presentation of results is clear, and the discussion is integrated. The conclusion gives a good summary of the work.

I have made some minor editing amendments via track changes. There are a few comments for your attention as well.

In particular:

Check the reference style, as it seems inconsistent. Use Vancouver and check consistency throughout. I have edited most of the references, but please double check. See the PLoS ONE referencing guidelines: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-references

Reviewer #2: Technical soundness:

1. The aim of the trial is explained in some sections, but the objectives are missing; need to be stated.

2. The study population and the two study arms are not clear, briefly describe.

3. Define “Usual care” that the other group was on.

4. Ethical considerations: 4.1 Clarify where the interviews were done and how privacy was ensured.

4.2 There are names attached to quotes from participants, clarify what measures were taken to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of the data – lines 255, 258, 268, …….

5. Clarify the sentence that starts on line 529: our robust approach ensured that feedback was sought at each phase of the research process. Describe the phases and from whom feedback was sought.

6. On the interview guide, clarify why the question on line 59 is only about pharmacists.

7. There is no consent form attached, so clarity is needed on whether participant consent was sought for recording the interviews.

Data availability: The response to the requirement is "Yes - all data are fully available without restriction". However, it needs to be made clear whether this availability is in line with the requirement of " The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository"

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Michelle NS Janse van Rensburg

Reviewer #2: No

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Perspectives of people experiencing homelessness with recent non-fatal street drug overdose on the Pharmacist and Homeless Outreach Engagement and Non-medical Independent prescribing Rx (PHOENIx) intervention

PONE-D-24-01041R1

Dear Dr. Farmer,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Andrew Scheibe, MBChB MPH

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: