Opioid Literacy Among African Americans Living in Rural Alabama: Findings From a Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Framework

• Author: Hee Yun Lee,Kun Wang,Eunyoung Choi,Jamie M. Gajos,Cho Rong Won
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00220426221093610
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00220426221093610

Journal of Drug Issues

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DOI: 10.1177/00220426221093610

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Article

Opioid Literacy Among African

Americans Living in Rural

Alabama: Findings From a Social

Determinants of Health (SDH)

Framework

Hee Yun Lee1, Kun Wang1, Eunyoung Choi2,

Jamie M. Gajos3, and Cho Rong Won1

Abstract

Limited research examining opioid literacy among African Americans (AAs) have been

conducted. The current study examined the association between opioid literacy levels among

AAs in rural Alabama using the social determinants of health framework. Three subscales in the

Brief Opioid Overdose Knowledge questionnaire were used to measure opioid literacy. Among

a sample of 253, limited opioid literacy was found. Social contact was found to be significantly

associated with overall opioid literacy (B = .36, p < .05) and opioid general knowledge subscale

(B = .14, p < .05). For the subscale of opioid overdose response knowledge, health insurance

(B =−.59, p = .06) and social contact (B = .13, p = .07) emerged as marginally significant. The

findings suggest that educational interventions are needed to increase opioid literacy among

rural AAs, especially among those with limited social contact.

Keywords

opioid literacy, African Americans, rural south, social determinants of health

Introduction

Opioid overdose risk is a national public health crisis, and Alabama has been disproportionately

impacted by the opioid epidemic. Since 2006, Alabama remains as the state with the highest

prescription opioid rate in the U.S., and opioid accounted for about half of drug overdose deaths

in 2018 (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention [CDC], 2021b; National Institute on Drug

Abuse, 2020). Also, Lee et al. (2020) identified characteristics in rural areas of Alabama (i.e.,

limited opioid-related services, poverty, high prescription rates) which were commonly found as

contributing factors to drug and opioid overdose deaths (King et al., 2014; Wagner et al., 2019).

First, Monnat et al. (2019) found that counties with higher opioid prescription rates had greater

1School of Social Work, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

2Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

3Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Cho Rong Won, MSW, PhD Candidate, School of Social Work, The University of Alabama, 104E Farrah Hall,

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.

Email: cwon@crimson.ua.edu

1093610

JODXXX10.1177/00220426221093610Journal of Drug IssuesLee et al.

research-article2022

2023, Vol. 53(1) 3–17