Category
Poster - Applied
Description
Opioid overdose death (OOD) rates in the US have increased exponentially in the last ten years and 68% between 2018 and 2020 alone. Now the leading cause of unnatural death in the United States and Virginia, opioids claimed 2,233 of the 2,622 Virginia 2021 overdose deaths. In 2023, Virginia Governor Youngkin executed a comprehensive OOD crisis response (EO-26) that aligns with the Commonwealth’s Right Help, Right Now behavioral health transformation initiative. Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Overdose Incident Management Team (IMT) strategized dispensing the opioid reversal agent (ORA) Naloxone to high-risk populations where it can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses and save lives. Optimal approaches to reaching those at risk vary in different communities. This four-month project aimed to implement cultural sensitivity to provide strategic insight, increase the number of ORA kits reaching high-risk populations, and reduce OOD rates in Virginia. Using a series of informal, qualitative, semi-structured interviews to measure stakeholder perspectives, current ORA utilization, resources, attitudes, and barriers to distribution were assessed in two disparate, convenience sample, target communities (TCs) in Virginia. The results found that in the urban TC, there was high awareness of increasing OOD risk; ORAs are needed, wanted, and already being distributed through multiple community-led initiatives. Feedback suggested simplifying the legal and administrative aspects would improve distribution. In the rural TC, high barriers to ORAs reaching at-risk individuals included finances, stigma, lack of anonymity, and limited access to harm-reduction resources. There, community education and EMS leave-behind programs are recommended. Overall, a state-level ORA program can simplify administrative requirements while increasing ORA education and resources. At the regional and district levels, communication, collaboration, and resource availability will support local communities in adopting unique methods in their own timing and pace to improve ORA uptake, and if reaching overdoses, reduce OOD.
Leveraging Cultural Sensitivity to Increase Opioid Reversal Agent Distribution
Poster - Applied
Opioid overdose death (OOD) rates in the US have increased exponentially in the last ten years and 68% between 2018 and 2020 alone. Now the leading cause of unnatural death in the United States and Virginia, opioids claimed 2,233 of the 2,622 Virginia 2021 overdose deaths. In 2023, Virginia Governor Youngkin executed a comprehensive OOD crisis response (EO-26) that aligns with the Commonwealth’s Right Help, Right Now behavioral health transformation initiative. Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Overdose Incident Management Team (IMT) strategized dispensing the opioid reversal agent (ORA) Naloxone to high-risk populations where it can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses and save lives. Optimal approaches to reaching those at risk vary in different communities. This four-month project aimed to implement cultural sensitivity to provide strategic insight, increase the number of ORA kits reaching high-risk populations, and reduce OOD rates in Virginia. Using a series of informal, qualitative, semi-structured interviews to measure stakeholder perspectives, current ORA utilization, resources, attitudes, and barriers to distribution were assessed in two disparate, convenience sample, target communities (TCs) in Virginia. The results found that in the urban TC, there was high awareness of increasing OOD risk; ORAs are needed, wanted, and already being distributed through multiple community-led initiatives. Feedback suggested simplifying the legal and administrative aspects would improve distribution. In the rural TC, high barriers to ORAs reaching at-risk individuals included finances, stigma, lack of anonymity, and limited access to harm-reduction resources. There, community education and EMS leave-behind programs are recommended. Overall, a state-level ORA program can simplify administrative requirements while increasing ORA education and resources. At the regional and district levels, communication, collaboration, and resource availability will support local communities in adopting unique methods in their own timing and pace to improve ORA uptake, and if reaching overdoses, reduce OOD.
Comments
Doctorate - 3rd Place Award Winner