Background/Purpose: Overdose prevention efforts increasingly rely on community-based organizations to provide low-barrier, relationship-centered services that reach people underserved by traditional healthcare systems. This poster presents findings from the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment’s (DDPHE) Year 3 evaluation of selected activities within the CDC-funded Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program, including overdose prevention education and supply distribution, linkage to care, and drug checking efforts. The evaluation examined how these services were implemented across Denver communities and identified factors that supported or hindered engagement in overdose prevention efforts. It also explored how community partnerships, peer-led outreach, and low-barrier approaches contributed to equitable, community-informed overdose prevention.
Methods: Using a qualitative, implementation-focused evaluation approach, DDPHE conducted interviews with 18 community-based organizations, outreach workers, peer staff, and public health partners involved in overdose prevention services. Interviews were recorded and transcribed in full. Evaluators used a combined deductive and inductive thematic approach to identify implementation strengths, barriers, and recommendations for future program improvement.
Results: Participants emphasized that trust, dignity, peer support, and nonjudgmental care were central to successful overdose prevention efforts. Partnerships supported access to naloxone, safer use supplies, behavioral health services, and referrals to care. Persistent barriers included housing instability, stigma, transportation challenges, criminalization, staff capacity, and delays in sharing drug checking results. Participants also identified gaps in reaching some communities, particularly communities of color and individuals outside current outreach areas. Recommendations included expanding outreach, strengthening referral systems, increasing staffing and training, and improving drug checking infrastructure.
Implications: Findings point to the need for stronger systems coordination, more responsive drug checking infrastructure, and reduced administrative burden for community partners. Recommendations include investing in faster local testing capacity, strengthening referral and follow-up systems, improving real-time public communication of drug trends, and expanding culturally responsive outreach approaches to support equitable and sustainable overdose prevention efforts.
