The United States faces several ongoing public health issues including the opioid epidemic. This article describes a new model aimed at providing a framework that incorporates the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to develop pharmacy student leaders through education, experiences, and development of critical skills. This…

Opioid overdose deaths are dramatically increasing in the United States and disproportionately affecting minority communities, with the increasing presence of fentanyl exacerbating this crisis. Developing community coalitions is a long-standing strategy used to address public health issues. However, there is a limited understanding of how…

The opioid overdose epidemic continues to disproportionately impact underserved rural areas throughout the nation, with many of these rural areas experiencing greater opioid-related mortality rates than their urban counterparts. With limited treatment infrastructure and resources, two rural communities in Southeast Utah utilized community-based…

This study assesses adults' perceptions of and predictors of intention to use prescription drug take-back boxes. This mixed methods study utilized focus groups and an online survey to examine factors related to intention to use a prescription drug take-back box. This study was conducted in [State] during the spring and summer of 2018. Themes…

Objective: Access to naloxone is a priority for reducing opioid overdose deaths. Although participants who receive naloxone training are able to successfully administer it, the impact of training on community member knowledge and attitudes has not been explored. Participants: A total of 105 participants 18 years and older at a medium-sized…

Background: Fentanyl has become increasingly present in the illicit drug supply, including in cocaine. Interventions that target non-opioid use are a necessary component of overdose prevention due to the increased presence of fentanyl. Objectives: To assess management and staff reception to overdose prevention messaging and access to naloxone in…

Introduction: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a critical health issue in the USA. Pennsylvania has the third highest number of drug overdose deaths per year, with the COVID-19 pandemic worsening these trends. Stigmatising beliefs towards OUD are associated with negative health outcomes, and there is a need for a larger evidence base on OUD stigma…

Many of the policies shown to benefit the public's health in research studies are never widely implemented. We conducted a qualitative and exploratory multiple-case study of three U.S. academic research-policy translation initiatives that resulted in the development, enactment and/or implementation of evidence-based policies to address public…

This article offers a longitudinal computational-rhetorical analysis of biomedical writing on opioids. Using a corpus of 1,467 articles and essays published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" and the "Journal of the American Medical Association" between 1959 and May 2019, this study evaluates diachronic shifts in (a) the…

In the fall of 2015, Northern Kentucky University began a sustained, multidimensional effort to explore our region's devastating heroin epidemic. The goal was to engage NKU's students, faculty, and staff with the community through public dialogue, experiential learning, and research. Taken together, our engagements would contribute to public…

Opiate abuse in the United States is on the rise among the college student population. This public health crisis requires immediate action from professionals and stakeholders who are committed to addressing the needs of prospective, current, and recovering opiate users using comprehensive prevention methods. Such approaches have been used to…

Drug overdose, especially from opioids, is a global problem which has stretched across all racial, generational, and socio-economical groups. Millions of people have been affected on a personal or professional basis by the emotional, physical, and financial impacts of this crisis. There is a critical need to provide support for public health…

This study explored substance use trajectories and associations with mental health among an ethnically/racially diverse college student sample before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We combined repeated cross-sections and panel data from a total of 3,247 college students assessed with an online survey in 2018, 2019, and in three waves in 2020.…

The potential spillover effects of the United States' opioid epidemic on children's educational outcomes have received surprisingly little attention from researchers. Accordingly, this study leverages national datasets of county-level opioid prescription rates and public school students' third- to eighth-grade academic achievement to provide the…

Aims: Scotland was the first country to adopt take-home naloxone (THN) as a funded public health policy. We summarise the background and rigorous set-up for before/after monitoring to assess the impact on high-risk opiate-fatalities. Methods: Evidence-synthesis of prospectively monitored small-scale THN schemes led to a performance indicator for…