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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Prescription drug misuse

Families in Crisis: The Human Service Implications of Rural Opioid Misuse
Presents findings and policy recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services' 2016 meeting with rural residents, healthcare providers, and stakeholders regarding the impact and effects of opioid use disorders on rural families. Topics addressed include drug overdose and death, conflict with partners and children, emotional disturbance, adverse health risks, and related impacts on employment and economic sustainability.
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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On Pills and Needles: Counties Fight the Opioid Drug Crisis
Special issue focused on how counties are responding to the opioid crisis. Includes an interview with Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, focused on the federal response to rural opioid abuse.
Citation: County News
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of Counties
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The Opioid Epidemic: Rural Organizations Fight Back
Highlights programs across the country, such as the ANGEL Program, the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PARRI) and the Second Chance Drug Initiative, in which police departments and treatment facilities work together to fight addiction and move drug users toward treatment rather than incarceration. Also discusses the use and availability of naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug.
Author(s): Zachary Toliver
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 06/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Prescription Opioid Use: Patient Characteristics and Misuse in Community Pharmacy
Highlights a study on prescription opioid use in both rural and urban communities in southwestern Pennsylvania. Analyzes data from an anonymous survey about opioid usage by type of drug and participant characteristics, such as age, gender, and education, among others.
Author(s): Gerald Cochran, Jennifer L. Bacci, Thomas Ylioja, et al.
Citation: Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 56(3), 248-256
Date: 05/2016
Type: Document
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The Communities That Care Coalition Model for Improving Community Health through Clinical-Community Partnerships: A Population Health Case Report
Discussion paper featuring a community coalition in rural western Massachusetts focused on supporting youth well-being and reducing youth substance abuse. Describes the initiative and the partners involved, including clinicians and public health. Discusses how the Communities That Care Coalition works within a network of local coalitions, including acting as the prevention arm of the region's Opioid Task Force.
Author(s): Jeanette Voas, Katherine Allen, Ruth Potee
Date: 05/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Academy of Medicine
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The Opioid Epidemic: Testing the Limits of Rural Healthcare
Discusses the factors that make rural communities vulnerable to the ongoing opioid epidemic and efforts needed in rural areas to address this crisis, including the role of rural first responders.
Author(s): Zachary Toliver
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 05/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services Meeting Minutes, Beaufort, South Carolina, April 18-20, 2016
Provides a summary of the 79th meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services (NACRHHS), which was held in Beaufort, South Carolina. The meeting focused on two main topics: alternative models to preserving access to emergency care in rural areas in the face of hospital closures and the abuse of prescription painkillers and opioids.
Date: 04/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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Rural Communities in Crisis: Strategies to Address the Opioid Crisis
Policy brief describing the effects of the opioid and heroin crisis in rural areas. Covers challenges to rural healthcare organizations combating this issue, and identifies and discusses policy recommendations for addressing the opioid and heroin crisis in rural communities and in rural healthcare systems.
Author(s): John A. Gale, Dave Schmitz, Michael Meit, et al.
Date: 04/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Correlates to Seroprevalent Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Among Rural Appalachian Drug Users
Examines HSV-2 seroprevalence among 499 drug users in a rural Appalachian Kentucky county, and relevant demographic, behavioral, and social network factors. Features statistics on demographics, sexual behavior, and drug use.
Author(s): Dustin B. Stephens, April M. Young, Ursula L. Mullins, Jennifer R. Havens
Citation: Journal of Medical Virology, 88(3), 512-520
Date: 03/2016
Type: Document
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Rural Opioid Abuse: Prevalence and User Characteristics
Compares non-medical use of opioids, opiates, and heroin in rural and urban areas and assesses socioeconomic characteristics associated with their use.
Author(s): Jennifer D. Lenardson, John A. Gale, Erika C. Ziller
Date: 02/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Maine Rural Health Research Center
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