Methodology

Risk Environment Framework

Organization and data selection for the OEPS is guided by a risk environment framework (Rhodes 2002). The “risk environment” as a framework for understanding and reducing drug-related harms emphasizes the broader contextual domains in which opioid use occurs.

Our approach is further rooted in the socioecological model of substance use, which includes multiple levels of the physical and social environments that interact and overlap to impact health. We apply this socio-ecological model of health and use it to further build on previous research on risk environments (Cooper et al 2016, Ciccarone 2017).

Data and research models must reflect this transdisciplinary and multi-level approach. The risk environment framework shifts the focus of drug-related harm research away from individuals, and toward environmental factors driving or enabling trends at the community level. We see this approach encouraging greater understanding of the spatial and community contexts in which opioid use harm occurs.

Multiple Spatial Scales

Most datasets are available at multiple spatial scales, including Census tract, ZIP Code or ZIP Code Tract Area (ZCTA), county, and state. You can filter and explore available datasets by spatial scale here.

Data Themes

Data included in the OEPS is grouped thematically for ease of exploration, indices development, and model integration. Data is stratfied across six themes:

Policy: State, county, and local policies that may influence access to treatment and/or criminal justice
Health: Health outcomes, physicians, access to MOUDs and healthcare resources, and more
Demographic: Age, gender, race/ethnicity, social vulnerability, social determinants of health, and more
Economic: Employment trends, income, poverty, foreclosure rates, and more
Physical Environment: Housing, urban-suburban-rural classification, community overlays
COVID-19: Essential workers, daily infection rates and confirmed cases through March 2020.*

*For complete case rate, mortality, and additional COVID-19 data, please visit the US COVID Atlas -- a free and open source pandemic data archive and visualization tool, also led by the Healthy Regions and Policies Lab.

The OEPS also includes geography boundary shapefiles from the US Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line (2018) for Census tracts, ZCTAs, counties, and states.

Data Standards

Please see the Data Standards page for more on our file naming conventions, geographic identifiers, data formatting, and guidelines for contributors.

Documentation