沃伊诺维奇学校 collaboration to support community response to opioid epidemic during pandemic featured in journal
2021年4月20日
Networks established to support four rural Appalachian Ohio communities’ response to the opioid use epidemic became crucial elements of public health infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a case study by newbb电子平台’s 沃伊诺维奇学校 of Leadership and Public Affairs faculty and professionals in the 合作伙伴hip for Community-Based Prevention.
The article, published in the journal Family and Community Health，作者之一 嘉莉Burggraf，研究助理; 劳拉Milazzo, senior research associate; 冬青抽奖活动, professor; and Matthew Courser of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE).
With funding from the Health 资源 and Services Administration (HRSA), the 沃伊诺维奇学校 partnered with PIRE and local behavioral health boards and health departments in Ashtabula, 费尔菲尔德, Sandusky and Seneca counties to establish the Communities of Practice for Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (CoP-RCORP). A community of practice (CoP) brings together people with common interests, concerns or passions who collaborate to expand and deepen their understanding of a topic – 在这种情况下, addressing opioid use and overdose deaths. 正如文章所解释的那样, the CoPs are designed to help rural communities “which are often isolated from urban areas and from one another… nurture their capacity to ideate, share resources and impact their communities, both independently and collectively” in responding to opioid use and misuse and other public health issues.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the region, community leaders realized they could use the CoP framework – peer sharing, problem solving and action learning – to facilitate responses to both the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic.
“因为这个农村, multicommunity CoP was already set up to meet virtually, had experience with exchanging ideas and problem solving and had system conveners (PIRE and 俄亥俄州) who were dedicated to holding the space, it was a crucial piece of infrastructure that served the community leaders as they worked in their local settings to transcend the pandemic,文章中写道.
The experience validates the CoP model and highlights the role of the organizations that support them, 作者总结道.
“This case study highlights the value of cultivating and nurturing multicommunity CoPs among leaders from rural and Appalachian communities and the critical infrastructure these CoPs provide to facilitate effective responses to a variety of public health issues,他们写道。. “It also underscores the importance of system conveners, 在这种情况下, professional staff from 俄亥俄州 and PIRE. The CoP structure and facilitation operationalized the desire of rural leaders to connect… to share, co-create and implement innovative solutions.”