Publications by authors named "Dacia Beard"
Article Synopsis
- - The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) aimed to reduce opioid overdose deaths in 67 affected communities by implementing health campaigns focused on opioid use disorder (OUD), overdose prevention, and stigma reduction, developed with community input.
- - Surveys conducted via Facebook/Instagram indicated that participants in HCS communities experienced reduced stigma related to OUD and improved beliefs about the efficacy of naloxone, though recognition of campaign messages was not significantly different from control communities.
- - The study suggests a connection between recognizing campaign messages and achieving positive outcomes, but it also raises concerns about the effectiveness of traditional evaluation methods for social media health campaigns.
Since its inception 30 years ago, Photovoice has gained increasing popularity as a research method and more recently has been incorporated within randomized controlled trial (RCT) designs. Photovoice is a participatory action research method that pairs photography with focus group discussions to record community strengths and concerns, build critical consciousness, and reach policymakers. Adherence of Photovoice implementation to these original tenets of Photovoice varies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCommunity-Based Cluster-Randomized Trial to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths.
N Engl J Med
September 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study examines a community-based intervention aimed at reducing opioid-related overdose deaths by increasing the adoption of evidence-based practices including overdose education and naloxone distribution, medication treatment for opioid use disorder, and prescription safety.
- In a cluster-randomized trial, 67 communities across Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio were assigned to either receive the intervention or serve as a control group during a period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in fentanyl overdoses.
- Results showed no significant difference in opioid-related overdose death rates between the intervention and control groups, with both averaging similar rates, indicating that the community-engaged strategies did not have a measurable impact during the study period.
This paper outlines lessons learned from tailoring communication campaigns to increase demand for, and reduce stigma toward, evidence-based practices to reduce opioid overdose deaths in 66 communities participating in the HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Communities Study (HCS). We present nine lessons gathered about how to engage local communities in both virtual and in-person opioid messaging and distribution between February 2019 and June 2022. The research team created four communication campaigns and did extensive, tailored marketing and promotion to assist communities in implementing evidence-based clinical activities to reduce opioid overdose mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: 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.
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