Facilitated by OMNI, The Virginia State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) is developing a set of data spotlights to feature behavioral health-related data sources across the state. The goal of the data spotlights is to support Virginia's substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts.

Last October, OMNI's Quantitative Best Practice Team launched an initiative to use the programming language and statistical software R for analysis, reporting, and visualization. As we discussed in a previous blog, we were excited about R's wide-ranging capabilities and the possibility of streamlining our processes by combining the functionality of several other software programs. Over the last year, we used R in many projects across our work. Here are highlights of how R has informed our work and impacted our clients.

To promote cross-collaboration and help break down data silos, OMNI schedules data presentations at each of the quarterly SEOW meeting. One SEOW member presents to the group on the information they collect, including data collection methods, context, overarching trends, benefits and limitations of the data, and use and external access. OMNI then takes information from these presentations to develop a one-page data spotlight which outlines:

As social science researchers, we often need to glean information from the communities we serve, and one of the best tools for this is survey collection and in-person interviews. COVID-19 put an abrupt stop to our in-person survey collection efforts and has required us to adapt quickly to meet project and client needs while keeping our staff and community members safe.

This year, our Quantitative BPT is leading an organization-wide initiative to train our team and deploy R as our primary tool for analysis, reporting, and visualization at OMNI. 

As recently reported in The Washington Post, the release of a comprehensive national dataset on opioid prescriptions provides a ‘virtual road map to the epidemic.’ Research shows that as opioid prescriptions increase, so do the number of opioid overdoses, and the data recently made available to the public dramatically illustrates this fact.

 We see the importance of such data every day in our work with states and communities invested in reducing and preventing the misuse of opioids and its devastating consequences for individuals, families, and communities.    

This week is National Prevention Week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) annual time to promote public awareness and action around mental health and substance use disorders.