Researchers at the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (UK CERH) and the Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago have released a report detailing the findings of a study conducted to understand possible factors that contribute to Eastern Kentucky leading the nation in declining overdose mortality rates.
Through an intensive qualitative study, NORC and UK CERH identified potential policies and strategies that may be contributing to the declines, including approaches that could be implemented in other communities. Topics explored through this project included:
- increased access to treatment and recovery
- Medicaid expansion
- law enforcement and the criminal justice system
- harm reduction
- primary prevention and community coalitions
- shifts in drugs of choice.
Read the full press release here.