Drug and alcohol dependence
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Dec 2020
Health economic design for cost, cost-effectiveness and simulation analyses in the HEALing Communities Study.
The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) is designed to implement and evaluate the Communities That HEAL (CTH) intervention, a conceptually driven framework to assist communities in selecting and adopting evidence-based practices to reduce opioid overdose deaths. The goal of the HCS is to produce generalizable information for policy makers and community stakeholders seeking to implement CTH or a similar community intervention. To support this objective, one aim of the HCS is a health economics study (HES), the results of which will inform decisions around fiscal feasibility and sustainability relevant to other community settings. ⋯ The HCS offers an unprecedented opportunity to conduct health economics research on solutions to the opioid crisis and to increase understanding of the impact and value of complex, community-level interventions.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Dec 2020
Community dashboards to support data-informed decision-making in the HEALing communities study.
With opioid misuse, opioid use disorder (OUD), and opioid overdose deaths persisting at epidemic levels in the U.S., the largest implementation study in addiction research-the HEALing Communities Study (HCS)-is evaluating the impact of the Communities That Heal (CTH) intervention on reducing opioid overdose deaths in 67 disproportionately affected communities from four states (i.e., "sites"). Community-tailored dashboards are central to the CTH intervention's mandate to implement a community-engaged and data-driven process. These dashboards support a participating community's decision-making for selection and monitoring of evidence-based practices to reduce opioid overdose deaths. ⋯ The HCS presents an opportunity to advance how community-tailored dashboards can foster community-driven solutions to address the opioid epidemic. Lessons learned can be applied to inform interventions for public health concerns and issues that have disproportionate impact across communities and populations (e.g., racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minorities and other marginalized individuals).
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Dec 2020
The Opioid-overdose Reduction Continuum of Care Approach (ORCCA): Evidence-based practices in the HEALing Communities Study.
The number of opioid-involved overdose deaths in the United States remains a national crisis. The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) will test whether Communities That HEAL (CTH), a community-engaged intervention, can decrease opioid-involved deaths in intervention communities (n = 33), relative to wait-list communities (n = 34), from four states. The CTH intervention seeks to facilitate widespread implementation of three evidence-based practices (EBPs) with the potential to reduce opioid-involved overdose fatalities: overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND), effective delivery of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and safer opioid analgesic prescribing. A key challenge was delineating an EBP implementation approach useful for all HCS communities. ⋯ The ORCCA includes required and recommended EBP strategies, priority populations, and community settings. Each EBP has a "menu" of strategies from which communities can select and implement with a minimum of five strategies required: one for OEND, three for MOUD, and one for prescription opioid safety. Identification and engagement of high-risk populations in OEND and MOUD is an ORCCArequirement. To ensure CTH has community-wide impact, implementation of at least one EBP strategy is required in healthcare, behavioral health, and criminal justice settings, with communities identifying particular organizations to engage in HCS-facilitated EBP implementation.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Dec 2020
Health communication campaigns to drive demand for evidence-based practices and reduce stigma in the HEALing communities study.
The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) is testing whether the Communities that Heal (CTH) intervention can decrease opioid overdose deaths through the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in highly impacted communities. One of the CTH intervention components is a series of communications campaigns to promote the implementation of EBPs, increase demand for naloxone and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and decrease stigma toward people with opioid use disorder and the use of EBPs, especially MOUD. This paper describes the approach to developing and executing these campaigns. ⋯ If successful, the Prepare-Plan-Implement process, and the campaign materials, could be adapted and used by other communities to address the opioid crisis. The campaign evaluation will extend the evidence base for how communication campaigns can be developed and implemented through a community-engaged process to effectively address public health crises.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Dec 2020
Vaping while high: Factors associated with vaping marijuana among youth in the United States.
The use of e-cigarette and other vaping devices have become popular among youth in US. In addition to nicotine, vaping devices can be used to vaporize marijuana. However, factors associated with vaping marijuana among youth remain unexplored. This study examined the rates of vaping marijuana and its correlates among youth in the US. ⋯ Large numbers of youth in the US have ever vaped marijuana. Our findings indicate that sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco product use, frequency of e-cigarette use are important factors associated with vaping marijuana. Tobacco control campaigns targeted at curbing the use of e-cigarette and other vaping devices among youth in the US should be extended to address vaping substances other than nicotine such as marijuana.