Community coalition and key stakeholder perceptions of the community opioid epidemic before an intensive community-level intervention.

INTRODUCTION: Opioid overdoses are a major public health emergency in the United States. Despite effective treatments that can save lives, access to and utilization of such treatments are limited. Community context plays an important role in addressing treatment barriers and increasing access. The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) is a multisite community-level cluster-randomized trial that will study implementation and outcomes of a community coalition-based intervention (Communities that HEAL [CTH]) that implements evidence-based practices (EBPs) to reduce opioid overdose deaths in four states. To examine contextual factors critical to understanding implementation, we assessed the perspectives of community members about their communities, current substance use-related services, and other important issues that could impact intervention implementation. METHODS: Researchers conducted 382 semi-structured qualitative interviews in the HCS communities. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed; researchers subsequently analyzed data using directed content analysis based on the constructs of the RE-AIM/PRISM implementation science framework to identify key themes within the external community context. RESULTS: Despite the diversity in states and communities, four similar themes related to the external community context emerged across communities: These themes included the importance of understanding: 1) community risk perceptions, 2) levels of stigma, 3) the health services environment and the availability of substance use services, and 4) funding for substance use services. CONCLUSION: Understanding and addressing the external community context in which the CTH intervention and EBPs are implemented are crucial for successful health services-related and community engaged interventions. While implementing EBPs is a challenging undertaking, doing so will help us to understand if and how a community-based intervention can successfully reduce opioid overdose deaths and influence both community beliefs and the community treatment landscape.

Quantifying Distance Overestimation From Global Positioning System in Urban Spaces.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate accuracy of distance measures computed from Global Positioning System (GPS) points in New York City. METHODS: We performed structured walks along urban streets carrying Globalsat DG-100 GPS Data Logger devices in highest and lowest quartiles of building height and tree canopy cover. We used ArcGIS version 10.1 to select walks and compute the straight-line distance (Geographic Information System-measured) and sum of distances between consecutive GPS waypoints (GPS-measured) for each walk. RESULTS: GPS distance overestimates were associated with building height (median overestimate = 97% for high vs 14% for low building height) and to a lesser extent tree canopy (43% for high vs 28% for low tree canopy). CONCLUSIONS: Algorithms using distances between successive GPS points to infer speed or travel mode may misclassify trips differentially by context. Researchers studying urban spaces may prefer alternative mode identification techniques.