Focus Area: Substance Use

Substance Use Vulnerability Index screen capture

Substance Use Risk Index to Support Vulnerable Populations in Iowa

As part of the Public Science Collaborative’s substance use work, PSC developed data resources to help public health leaders target prevention and treatment resources where they’re needed most. This dashboard uses predictive modeling and Census data to map substance use vulnerability across Iowa with the goal of reducing or preventing substance use disorders in these …

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An Ethnographic Assessment of Drug Use among Iowa Families report cover

An Ethnographic Assessment of Drug Use among Iowa Families

As part of the Public Science Collaborative’s substance use work, PSC sought to strengthen the Iowa Department of Public Health’s (IDPH) surveillance of substance use in Iowa, with particular attention to intergenerational impacts, through the deployment of an ethnographic assessment of active and former substance users. The goal of these activities is to help IDPH …

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Meth Use Executive Summary cover

Methamphetamine Use in Iowa, Executive Summary

As part of the Public Science Collaborative’s Substance Use Recovery work, this executive summary shows that Methamphetamine use in Iowa is rising faster than national trends, spreading across diverse populations, increasing overdose risks, and highlighting urgent needs for expanded treatment and support services. 

Translating Research into Action report cover

Translating Research into Action: A Multi-Method Approach for Informing Substance Use Policy and Practice

This report was funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control. The use of multiple research methods develops an understanding of effects that substance use has on families. Research was conducted at a variety of levels, working to develop program ideas with experts, interviews with families in which substance abuse has or is …

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Methamphetamine Use in Iowa report cover

Methamphetamine Use in Iowa

This research was funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Via qualitative and quantitative methods, PSC identified a number of patterns in methamphetamine use across Iowa. Information was gathered from both people with lived experience and care providers, contributing to our understanding of best practices in providing services and resources to people who use …

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Iowa Health Information Platform screen capture

Iowa’s Health Information Platform

This research was funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Focused on prevention, this work specifically targets reducing morbidity and mortality rates related to substance use. Through the process of compiling data, prevention and intervention can be informed, targeted, and timely. Dashboards were created to promote equity in healthcare, inform action with data, improve …

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Social Determinants of Health screen capture

Social Determinants of Health

As part of the Public Science Collaborative’s substance use work, PSC developed this dashboard to offer a visual tool for exploring how education, insurance, language, unemployment, and poverty influence health equity and substance use risks across Iowa communities, providing a better understanding of the environments that create and ameliorate the multifactorial risk factors of substance …

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Social Determinants of Health quick read

Social Determinants of Health: Quick Reads

As part of the Public Science Collaborative’s substance use work, PSC has created several maps for counties across Iowa to describe the social determinants of health. This quick read also provides context on what social determinants of health are and why mapping them is crucial. 

Iowa's Prescription Monitoring Program screen capture

Iowa’s Prescription Monitoring Program

As part of the Public Science Collaborative’s substance use work, PSC developed this dashboard to visualize prescription opioid sales across Iowa, using Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME) to highlight volume trends by location and population size. The dashboard allows users to assess, for example, whether pharmacies are overly concentrated in urban places or if sale rates …

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