The prescription opioid epidemic has affected large and small communities alike and was declared a national health crisis/epidemic. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control reported that the number of deaths from overdoses rose sharply again in 2015 and the number of young children and teens hospitalized for overdosing on these painkillers has tripled in recent years. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the nonmedical use of prescription drugs – mainly opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, and fentanyl – is alarmingly high among this age group. (Roughly 80 percent of new heroin users get their start on painkillers.)
Role of AAD
In response to this prescription opioids epidemic among school students, AAD has been implementing an opioids education awareness program in participating inner-city schools using age-appropriate and evidence-based curricula.
“Confronting the Opioid Crisis: A School-based Education Outreach Program” enables a cohort of high school students to access biomedical and health information, learn about the prevalence of this epidemic in their neighborhoods, communities and county, the health consequences, and steps needed to reduce its impact especially on school students. Program addresses the current efforts being used to save lives and resources available to them if they need treatment. Now in its fourth year of implementation and offered as a partnership and collaborative effort, the program is an integrated, in-class, student-centered, experiential, and technology-driven youth empowerment project offered to a cohort of high school students once every week during the school year. Using MedlinePlus and other NIH resources, the overarching goal is to create health literate public high school students able to navigate the internet to obtain, comprehend, and understand basic health knowledge about prescription opioids, the dangers of opioids abuse, misuse, and practice informed decision-making about their health.
Impact
Students consolidate opioids information gained and working in groups of no more than four students, they create a one-three-minute video to share with their peers as part of this education awareness campaign. Both qualitative and quantitative data are captured to establish program outcomes and also feedback on program implementation.
Below is an example of a Public Service Announcement video that a student made in this program.