Date

3-22-2024

Department

School of Health Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Chair

Kala Dixon

Keywords

Opioid Use Disorder, Opioid Overdose, Opioid use in the United States, Addiction, Opioids, Health Impacts, Substance Abuse, Prescription Drugs, Treatment Options Rehabilitation, Opioid Crisis, Withdrawal Symptoms, Recovery, Pharmacological Intervention, Risk Factors, Prevention Strategies, Therapy, Harm Reduction, Behavioral Intervention

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Public Health

Abstract

Background: The opioid crisis in the United States has affected millions of individuals, causing high levels of opioid addiction among the population. With the onset of synthetic opioids, deaths from opioid-related causes have increased drastically. This study aims to understand the effect of opioid addiction and methods of controlling the problem for adult African Americans and Latinos at Pathways to Recovery Counseling and Education Services, Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Methods: The theories guiding this study are the Intersectionality Model and the Bay Area Regional Health Inequalities Initiative (BARHII) model. These theories reveal that factors such as age, ethnicity, and gender have a significant impact on opioid misuse patterns. Results: The study revealed that opioid addiction negatively impacted cognition, social life, and emotional control, as 45% of the participants felt isolated from friends and family, 35% of the participants experienced anger issues and frequent arguments, loss of employment among 30%, and an increased tendency to engage in crime, evident by the fact that 30% of the participants had been to prison or a correctional facility. About 60% of the participants started using opioids to control physical pain and emotional trauma, while 55% obtained non-prescription opioids from illegal sources. Gender did not appear to have an impact on opioid use, as men and women showed a similar pattern of using opioids. Conclusion: The use of opioids among adult Latinos and African Americans was influenced by their ethnicities, in addition to other factors, which limited their ability to access quality health services from healthcare facilities.

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