HEALing Communities Study: Community-Centered Overdose Prevention

The HEALing Communities Study (HCS), funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), is the largest addiction and treatment prevention study ever conducted. The HCS deployed 1,030 total evidence-based interventions in 67 communities across New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Kentucky to reduce deaths within healthcare, justice, and behavioral health settings. The three evidence-based interventions that served as the pillars of this study include prevention education and naloxone distribution, effective delivery of medication, and safer opioid prescribing.

Dr. Nabila El-Bassel, Wilma and Albert Musher Professor of Social Work at Columbia School of Social Work (CSSW), served as Principal Investigator on the New York site with help from a multidisciplinary team of scientists at the Social Intervention Group (SIG). Dr. El-Bassel and her colleagues across the study relied heavily on community coalitions made up of policy makers, healthcare professionals, stakeholders, people with lived experience, and more to establish a unique, scientific approach that uplifts the voices of the communities. While the HCS faced its own set of challenges over a total of four years, its findings and dissemination of information will undoubtedly open doors for opioid overdose prevention in the future. 

The HCS study received its funding in 2019, and a year later, the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. HCS coalition members across all four states were suddenly needed elsewhere to help their communities navigate the new and very uncertain terrain, taking their focus from one health crisis to another. As time went on, it became clear that the widespread isolation due to COVID-19 was disproportionately decreasing mental well-being and increasing overdose deaths. To combat these compounding barriers, Dr. El-Bassel and her team members increased naloxone distribution everywhere in hopes of reaching the most vulnerable populations. Further, they focused their efforts towards communication campaigns surrounding the promotion and intervention of fentanyl test strips (FTS). Because data on illegally manufactured fentanyl remains delayed and difficult to track, the HCS knew to increase messaging and access to truthful information to mitigate overdose deaths and embrace a true cultural shift.

The HCS averted an estimated total of 483 overdose deaths. While the study’s impact on mortality was not statistically significant overall, the widespread community engagement and the community based approach to data is a momentous accomplishment. As seen in Politico, the study allowed its coalitions to “target resources to where they were most needed. The community support, in turn, made it easier to overcome bureaucratic obstacles to getting drug users into treatment.” The HCS wanted communities to know from the start that this was their data, rather than institutional conjectures that take autonomy away from people who are suffering. 

Dr. El-Bassel is thrilled to have energized the communities in this study. She hopes to see similar models implemented with other social issues, such as violence against women, health and wellness for incarcerated folks, HIV prevention, and more. Since the dissemination and translation of this study was integrated at the very start, mobilized education for opioid overdose prevention is now accessible and more tangible for those that are affected the most. A huge congratulations to Dr. El-Bassel, SIG, and the many collaborators on this study for their unwavering commitment to a data-driven approach that centers the voices of marginalized communities. The HEALing Communities Study is a testament to strong social work values. Its model will continue to save lives, in all facets of our society, for years to come.

July 05, 2024