Public Health in the Rockies 2026

Stigma surrounding substance use remains a major barrier for people seeking overdose prevention services, treatment, and recovery support. First responders interact daily with individuals who use drugs and play a critical role in overdose response, care, and support. As overdose prevention increasingly relies on cross-sector collaboration, reliable assessment tools are needed to measure knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and experiences related to substance use and overdose prevention. High-quality assessment data help identify gaps, guide evidence-based interventions, and strengthen collaboration across public health partners. However, many assessment tools have not been adequately validated for specialized workforce populations such as first responders.

This session shares the use of factor analysis, a statistical method used to identify underlying patterns or groupings among related variables, to assess perceptions related to substance use stigma among Denver first responders and to strengthen assessment design and interpretation in public health work. Methods: factor analysis was used to identify underlying dimensions within survey responses (n=120) and examine how perception items clustered into meaningful constructs. Results: five constructs were generated from the instrument through identification of coherent stigma-related perception domains, reduced redundant items, and improved interpretability. Implications: factor analysis provided advantages for public health evaluation practice. It supports construct validity and internal reliability. It improves interpretability of complex survey results, thus strengthening the practical use of findings for program planning and implementation. Also, grouping related survey items into meaningful domains facilitates communication to stakeholders and decision-makers.

This session highlights the importance of using validated instruments in public health assessment and demonstrates how factor analytic methods can improve assessment quality, strengthen measurement practices, and support data-informed approaches to overdose prevention related public health initiatives. Moreover, this session emphasizes how rigorous assessment approaches can enhance cross-sector partnerships and provide the evidence needed to jointly develop, implement, and sustain public health workplans.