ES 1. Assess and monitor population health

Why This Is Important

• Helps health departments understand how opioids are being used in the community, as well as the consequences of misuse
• Helps health department measure the impact of opioid misuse and overdose on those subpopulations most vulnerable to behavioral health disparities and health inequities.

What’s Involved

• Collect readily available state and local archival data. These data are often presented in epidemiological profiles—detailed reports that summarize the problems affecting a community or population. Hospitals, law enforcement agencies, first responders (e.g., fire departments, private ambulance companies), government agencies (e.g., city clerk death records), community organizations, and state agencies can also be important sources of archival data.
• Review local health and behavioral health surveys, such as youth risk behavior surveys conducted by local schools and community assessments conducted routinely by many service organizations; these can be rich sources of information.
• Partner with existing substance use prevention coalitions in the area, who routinely collect this information to inform their planning.

Key Considerations

• Designing and implementing equitable and inclusive data collection and analysis processes will help to ensure that the data you collect tells a complete story. To inform this process, bring to the prevention table stakeholders who have been historically excluded and ensure that their voices are heard.
• When reviewing data, identify those sub-populations that are vulnerable to behavioral health disparities and health inequities and make sure you have collected data on opioid-related problems for these populations. If information on these populations is missing from existing data sources, take time to gain approval from community members to collect new data to fill the gaps. Value the merits of qualitative data, including anecdotal data and personal stories.
• Do your homework! Asking for data isn’t like borrowing a cup of sugar. People can be very protective of their data; it tells the story of the work they do and the people they serve. These stories can be painfully revealing, easily misinterpreted, and often complicated. For these reasons, it’s important to approach all data requests with respect.

Racial Equity Data Roadmap

In 2020, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) released the Racial Equity Data Roadmap. The purpose of this tool is to improve the use of data across DPH-funded programs to inform racial equity work in order to achieve equitable health outcomes across the Commonwealth. It challenges prevention practitioners to “examine the role that data can have in perpetuating and failing to address health inequities . . .  [and] disrupt the status quo; face racial inequities head on; and inform data-to-action approaches that can be used to test new ideas that may finally lead to all people having the opportunity to reach their full potential for health and wellbeing.