Community Forums to Address the Opioid Crisis: An Effective Grassroots Approach to Rural Community Engagement.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

With opioid overdose deaths on the rise in rural Minnesota and across the nation, the call for community-based grassroots efforts is stronger than ever. Recognizing that substance use prevention and recovery programming rely upon community resources, collaborative teams planned and implemented a series of nine community forums focused on opioid and heroin use across rural northeast Minnesota to educate and unite invested community members on the critical public health issue. This article examines the outcomes of the forums and the ingredients of a successful forum.

Methods

Surveys were distributed at seven rural community forums to assess measures of growth in knowledge and awareness, as well as demographic characteristics of respondents.

Findings

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SUBMITTER: Palombi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6378421 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature