Session: Abstract of Distinction: Combining Research, Practice, and Policy to Reduce Prescription Drug Misuse: The Partnerships for Success National Cross-Site Evaluation (Society for Prevention Research 26th Annual Meeting)

Prescription drug misuse (PDM) refers to the use of licit drugs to treat health conditions without a prescription; in a way other than prescribed; or because of the feelings (high) the drugs may elicit (National Institutes of Health, 2011). More than 20% of individuals over the age of 12 used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes or without a prescription at least once in their lifetime (SAMHSA, 2015). In 2015, more than 15,000 people died from prescription opioid overdoses, and emergency departments treat more than 1,000 people per day for not using prescription opioids as directed (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Over the past decade, evaluation studies demonstrated that prevention interventions reduce substance abuse; delinquent behaviors; and other behavioral health problems (Calear & Christensen, 2010; Lemstra et al., 2010; Ttofi & Farrington, 2011). The prevention field needs to expand this evidence-base to include more programs, policies, and practices that explicitly address PDM.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) supports evidence-based approaches for preventing the misuse of prescription drugs and related consequences. CSAP’s Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Success (SPF-PFS) program supports such approaches, where grantees and their funded communities engage in the SPF process to 1) assess their priority substance abuse needs and populations, 2) build the capacity of the community to address those needs, 3) go through a planning process to decide how to address their needs, 4) implement related interventions, and 5) evaluate the impact. CSAP’s programs use the SPF process to bridge the gap between research and everyday practice by encouraging grantees and communities to use data-informed decision making to select appropriate evidence-based prevention strategies.

The first presentation describes the most common interventions implemented by PFS subrecipient communities to address PDM, the evidence-base used to select those interventions, and how prevention researchers can address the gaps in that evidence base. The second presentation uses Latent Class Analysis to identify unique groups of communities who employ similar approaches to addressing PDM. The third presentation examines community-level changes in prescription drug poisoning call rates associated with SPF-PFS. The symposia will conclude with a discussion of which factors communities may consider when selecting programs, policies and practices to include in their comprehensive PDM prevention activities, as well as potential policy implications for CSAP’s ongoing and future initiatives.