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Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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Summary Report/Recommendations
This article describes the implementation of telemental health services within the Veterans Health Administration before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article identifies strategies the VHA has used to reach hard to reach populations, including unhoused veterans and veterans living in rural communities, and outlines future goals to improve and expand access to telemental health services.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Peer Review Study, Summary Report/Recommendations
Article outlines how an opioid treatment program in the Bronx, NY adjusted their clinical practice with COVID-19 and their recommendations for treatment programs going forward. Balancing Covid-19 safety and the need to safely administer medications for opioid use disorder, this program ultimately made changes that allowed for more patient-driven treatment plans that enable fewer in person clinic visits. The article advocates for patient-centered care that encourages people to safely self-manage medication, focusing on patient-centered measures in clinical decision-making, and making appropriate changes to payment/insurance models that allow for such patient-centered care.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Case Study, Key Informant Interview
This case study discusses how Hawaii’s Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) partnered with state housing services to organize isolation and quarantine services for people experiencing homelessness. This department also focused on substance use disorder and mental illness, so they worked to build partnerships with treatment centers that individuals could enter after quarantine. The BHA has also focused on braiding funding sources between substance use disorder and homelessness efforts to provide more wraparound services and combat the siloization of different departments.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Case Study
This paper discusses how a community mental health center partnered with a local health department to provide vaccines to patients with severe mental illnesses through the mental health center in a “non-traditional” site. This was a way to increase preventive vaccination among patients with severe mental illnesses.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Summary Report/Recommendations
Data from the Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (AMES) was used by CDC to assess 9th-12th grade student behaviors and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of poor mental health and suicidality was high across students of all sex, sexual identity, and racial and ethnic groups; however, poor mental health, persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors were less prevalent among those who felt close to persons at school and were virtually connected with others during the pandemic. The mental health of youth might be improved via strategies that improve connections with others at home, in the community, and at school.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
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Summary Report/Recommendations
Recent national surveys of young people have shown alarming increases in the prevalence of certain mental health challenges. We know that mental health is shaped by many factors, from our genes and brain chemistry to our relationships with family and friends, neighborhood conditions, and larger social forces and policies. As we learn the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, and start recovering and rebuilding, we have an opportunity. Everyone has a role to play in combating this mental health pandemic. Ensuring healthy children and families will take an all-of-society effort, including policy, institutional, and individual changes. This advisory provides actionable recommendations for young people and their families, schools and health care systems, tech and media companies, employers, community organizations and governments alike. Mental health challenges are treatable and often preventable. This advisory shows how.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Case Study
This article summarizes COVID-19 harm reduction approaches taken by a family medicine/OBGYN residency program serving rural, western North Carolina for patients with an opioid use disorder. To meet patient needs, low acuity patients were offered telehealth options and digital prescriptions for buprenorphine/naloxone. For higher acuity patients, in=person visits were maintained and the risk/benefits were weighed on a continuous basis.
Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
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Summary Report/Recommendations
This resources summarizes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on substance use and the experiences of people who used drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlights include: the pandemic increased the risk of overdose for people who use drugs, and in response people who use drugs reported using more harm reduction strategies. The pandemic also motivated change in wanting to quit drug use for study participants, but also highlighted the social determinants of health as barriers to sustainable recovery.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Case Study
This article describes the impact of COVID-19-specific adaptations at two sites delivering a federally funded substance use treatment program for people living with or at-risk of HIV in Massachusetts. The success of the adaptations varied based on the site. For example, the transition to telemedicine was successful at the STI clinic, but not the community-based organization. However, the article does identify some adaptations that were successful in each setting, and the authors report process outcomes for these adaptations. The practice strategy this article is focused on is continuity of care for people with substance use disorder who are living with or at-risk of HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
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Summary Report/Recommendations
This commentary describes racial disparities in access to medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) and how pandemic-related changes in access to MAT may exacerbate these disparities. The author also provides specific recommendations, including actions that can be taken by local health departments to reduce race-based inequities in access to MAT during the pandemic.