Analysis of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disparities in the Appalachian Region and Access to Treatment Services
To assess substance abuse and mental health disparities, and access to treatment services, within the Appalachian region, the Walsh Center: (1) conducted a comprehensive literature review and annotated bibliography to identify important themes and gaps in substance abuse, mental health, and disparities research, targeting the Appalachian region; (2) identified relevant data sources to create spreadsheets in accessible formats and data codebooks to assist in data use; (3) appied appropriate statistical procedures to describe trends and patterns and the use of explanatory statistical procedures to examine possible associations among data elements; and (4) conducted case studies to highlight county level experiences in addressing these challenges as a complement to quantitative analyses. For this last component, the Walsh Center partnered with two regional entities, East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and the Coalition on Appalachian Substance Abuse Policy.
For the quantitative analysis primary data sources included the Area Resource File (ARF), the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS). All data were reported to the lowest geographic level allowed. To the extent feasible, analyses made the following comparisons: Appalachia versus non-Appalachia; areas within Appalachia (northern vs. central vs. southern), and types of areas within Appalachia (distressed vs. other counties). Results are displayed using GIS mapping. Quantitative data compiled and analyzed by NORC and qualitative data gathered by ETSU will be presented in a project report on the ARC website at http://www.arc.gov.
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