Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

About the Study

  • This study aims to:

    1. Learn what data are useful in identifying feasible actions to improve substance use service, prevent overdoses, and support local decision-makers from five broadly defined perspectives: public health, behavioral health, first responders, advocacy, and payers.

    2. Design user-friendly “data products” to disseminate the prioritized, relevant data to decision-makers.

    To accomplish these goals, we are developing and pilot-testing a strategy that we call “Co-Design Sessions.” This strategy involves semi-structured conversations, or “sessions,” with participants like you who represent one or more of five broadly defined perspectives: public health, behavioral health, first responders, advocacy, and payers. We are holding these sessions in half of Oregon’s counties through May 2026. Counties were randomly selected based on location (Coastal, Central, Eastern) and presence of deflection programs. During these conversations, we ask for feedback on desired data and data products. We are then distributing data products to every county in Oregon at different timepoints (2026-2028).

  • The CDC’s Overdose Data to Action initiative funds efforts such as overdose prevention coordinators and is not a research project. Data2Action Oregon is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and is a research project focused on preventing overdoses through improving substance use services, supports, and policies.

  • We are not selling anything. Rather, you can get paid to participate in our research trial! Our team is a non-profit research group conducting a clinical research trial in all Oregon counties. The project aims to support local decision-makers in improving substance use services and related resources or policies.

  • Following the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s definition of a clinical trial, we prospectively assign counties by randomly selecting which ones will participate in our intervention, the Co-Design Sessions (CDS). Furthermore, during these sessions, we are evaluating the effects of CDS on the use of data to inform decisions, which is a behavioral outcome.

  • Please review the main project page for more information.

Project Definitions

The two interventions being tested for this project are Co-Design Sessions and data products.

  • Co-Design Sessions are designed to facilitate discussions between individuals with different professional roles. During sessions, we gather community members’ expertise on how best to tell stories relating to the current substance use services and needs in their county. We ask what data they have, or wish to have, related to these stories. We also show prototypes, which are examples of data products that could present their county’s stories using local data. Participants help us redesign the data products to be as user-friendly as possible and practically support their daily decisions.

  • Data products are a generic term we use to talk about the formats with which to share local data with local decision-makers. The data products we generate will depend on what we find in our community advisory board meetings and Co-Design Sessions. We don’t know what they will look like yet — part of the project’s current activities involves talking to local decision-makers about what they want in order to co-develop data products. These products may take the form of a data reporting dashboard or a point-of-care test — the sky is the limit here!

Participant Questions

Please review our consent form for more information.

  • You will receive a digital gift card. The amount will vary based on the project activity (e.g., Co-Design Sessions, surveys, focus groups). If you cannot receive payment under your employer’s policies, you can have the payment donated to a non-profit organization of your choosing or decline compensation.

    You will also be receiving the data products with data relevant to your county.

  • If you are in a county selected for Co-Design Sessions, you can participate in approximately four (4) Sessions.

    • Sessions 1 and 4 will be in-person, lasting 4 hours each. Sessions 2 and 3 will be on Zoom, lasting 2 hours each. You do not need a paid Zoom account to participate.

    • You will be joined by others who work in your county.

    • You do not have to join a session for the whole time or join all sessions.

    We have two online surveys. The surveys take 10-45 minutes. Click here to take our short screener to see if you are eligible. If you are, you’ll receive a personalized link to the relevant survey(s).

  • There is a separate consent form for each project activity (Co-Design Sessions, Base Survey, Social Network Survey, Focus Groups). The consent forms let you know your rights as a participant.

    When signing the consent form, you will agree to the following:

    The study has been explained to me. I had a chance to ask questions. I understand that I can choose not to answer any question and that I can take myself out of this study at any time. No one has made any promises about how the study will turn out. My personal information related to the study will be protected and kept private according to federal law. When my information is looked at for a required review or to protect my safety, my records will be protected by federal laws. I understand that if I have questions or concerns, I can contact the main person in charge of the study. The person in charge is Dr. Gracelyn Cruden (phone: 541-357-8608; email: gcruden@chestnut.org). If I have questions about my rights as a person in this research study, I can contact the person in charge of protecting my rights, Dr. Ralph Weisheit, at 309-451-7855. I understand that Dr. Weisheit is not a member of the study team.