Overdose deaths before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a US county.

Introduction: Globally, overdose deaths increased near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which created availability and access barriers to addiction and social services. Especially in times of a crisis like a pandemic, local exposures, service availability and access, and system responses have major influence on people who use drugs. For policy makers to be effective, an understanding at the local level is needed.

Rapid adaptation during the COVID crisis: Challenges experienced in delivering service to those with Opioid Use Disorders.

Background: Adaptation is an accepted part of implementing evidence-based practices. COVID-19 presented a unique opportunity to examine adaptation in evolving contexts. Delivering service to people with opioid use disorder during the pandemic required significant adaptation due to revised regulations and limited service access.

A community planning process for the implementation of evidence-based practice.

Over the past 10 years, increasing attention has been paid to the development and implementation of 'evidence-based' practices or EBPs. In 1998, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine began drawing attention to the discrepancy between research findings and practice patterns in the treatment of substance abuse. The community coalition described in this study was developed to create a partnership between substance abuse treatment providers, policy makers, university-based researchers, and consumers to examine treatment advances and evaluate their possible application in local community settings.

Characteristics of opinion leaders in substance abuse treatment agencies.

Objective: This study was part of a larger effort to test the effectiveness of technology transfer approaches related to evidence-based treatment of co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders. Specifically, this study examined characteristics of "opinion leaders" as technology transfer agents.

Method: A network analysis was conducted within four large substance abuse treatment agencies to identify individuals that other counselors sought out for consultation on co-occurring issues.