Reach of Community-Selected Strategies to Reduce Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths in the HEALing Communities Study.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Despite recent declines, the U.S. opioid overdose crisis persists. The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) aimed to reduce opioid overdose deaths through community-level adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs), including overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). This paper describes the reach of OEND and MOUD strategies implemented by the 33 HCS wait-list control communities.

Methods

We conducted descriptive statistical analysis of reach data collected from July 2022 through December 2023 to (1) summarize overall EBP implementation and reach and (2) compare the demographic representation of individuals reached to community demographic population estimates.

Results

Communities implemented 474 EBPs (

SUBMITTER: Hall ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12466881 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature