CHASCo Campus Overdose Prevention & Response Project

After informational sessions to recruit participants, the project began its first year by introducing program logistics, common naloxone distribution strategies, guest speakers, and strategic planning. The content of the live monthly sessions continued as follows:

• Kickoff Event: “Community/Campus Partnerships?”
• “6 Lessons Learned from Implementing Opioid HR Strategies on Campuses”: In the first session, the cohort met one another, discussed attitudes toward naloxone and overdose on their campuses, and shared their expectations for the program. The session continued by laying foundational knowledge about student use, overdose data, risk factors, and stigma. Additionally, the cohort considered common models for naloxone training and distribution, such as public emergency boxes, pharmacy-based distribution, training session distribution, and/or police-focused availability.
• “Learning from the ROPS”: The next session welcomed Regional Overdose Prevention Specialists (ROPS). These ROPS are professionals who serve the state of Tennessee through training and education on opioid overdose and overdose prevention while distributing naloxone. There are designated ROPS for each region of the state, and each campus can utilize the ROPS’s expertise to support its opioid overdose prevention and response strategies. 

• “SMART Goals/ Proposals”: SAFE Campuses not only provides content-specific education but also utilizes professional development practices to encourage strategic thinking across all programming. This session utilized the SMART Goal framework to guide participants in developing opioid overdose prevention and response strategies and in identifying timely action items.
• Opioid Overdose Response Training: Training of Trainers: The checklist suggests that students, faculty, and staff have access to opioid overdose response training. This training includes, at minimum, instructions on how to recognize an opioid overdose, use naloxone, and call for help, but it can include information regarding stigma, how opioids interact with our brains, and campus-specific resources. SAFE Project facilitated their Training of Trainers presentation for this cohort, providing guidance on content, facilitation skills, common questions, and training logistic structures.
  • Outcomes of the two Training of Trainers sessions included the following:
    • 36 individuals trained from 15 institutions
    • A pre/post evaluation was used to understand the impact of the sessions on participants. Using a Likert scale, participants reported their level of confidence in their understanding of each topic within the Opioid Overdose Response Training. Average changes were:
      • Harm reduction: 26.4299% increase in confidence
      • Opioids: 46.0667% increase in confidence
      • Overdose: = 46.0851% increase in confidence
      • Naloxone: = 44.3848% increase in confidence
      • Saving a life: 42.7273% increase in confidence

Between learning sessions, all cohort members had continuous access to SAFE Project staff for ongoing technical assistance, troubleshooting, and strategic planning.

To conclude the first year, cohort participants presented proposals outlining their goals and material requests to CHASCo and SAFE Project staff members. Each participant developed a brief presentation outlining their goals, action plans, methods for tracking and measuring progress, material requests, and contingency plans. These presentations served as an opportunity for the SAFE Project and CHASCo program managers to provide direct feedback and assess whether their material requests aligned with their plans. Having participants share this information through a presentation allowed them to practice their advocacy skills, as many professionals encounter stigma and misinformation when developing opioid overdose prevention and response plans.

In year one, the cohort produced notable successes in program development and resource distribution. Collectively, the cohort distributed:

4,500 Xylazine Testing Strips

92 ONEBoxes

5,750 Naloxone Kits (11,500 doses)

5,500 Fentanyl Testing Strips

After a successful first year, year two began by addressing additional items from the checklist and expanding on those established in year one. Live sessions from the second year of the cohort so far have included:

• Self-Assessment & Saturation Model: Year two began with a self-assessment to collect the participants’ goals. It outlined what was available on participants’ campuses and which parts of the checklist they wanted to expand upon in year two. This session discussed how to utilize the Saturation Model to prioritize naloxone distribution.
• Advertising & Data Tracking: Addressing the self-assessment responses, this session focused on data tracking and advertising opioid overdose response tools and resources. Participants brainstormed ways to apply data tracking and advertising approaches used in other topical areas to their naloxone distribution plans.
• Policy & Procedures: This session welcomed SAFE Project’s Director of SAFE Communities, Rachel Bowling. Rachel discussed the differences between policies, procedures, and programs, as well as the four environments of advocacy. Participants were provided with examples and templates of each type of document and were encouraged to consider which one best addressed their goals.
• SMART Goals: Similar to year one, this year included a session dedicated to goals, action plans, and organizing checklist item efforts with strategy in preparation for Presentation Day.
• Presentations Day: Participants presented their goals, action plans, progress-tracking and measurement plans, material requests, and contingency plans. For year two, returning participants also included the progress, outcomes, and success from the implementation of year one’s action plans.
• Target Population Partnership Building: This cohort expressed interest in partnering with other campus departments to expand the reach of their opioid overdose response and prevention programming – notably Residence Life, Greek Life, and Athletics. This session welcomed professionals from their respective fields to discuss their priorities regarding (a) student mental health, wellness, and alcohol and drug education; (b) requirements around overdose prevention or alcohol and drug education; and (c) suggestions they have for colleagues approaching their focus area in pursuit of partnership. The informative guest speakers were:

• Hailey Flavin, M.S.; Director of Harm Reduction & University Relations for Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
• Joshua Maxwell, Ed.D.; Director of University Housing at Colorado State University
• Chris Ferris; Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs at Colorado State University

As in the first year, between learning sessions, all cohort members continued to have access to SAFE Project staff for ongoing technical assistance, troubleshooting, and strategic planning.

Information regarding the amount of naloxone and harm reduction materials distributed is forthcoming. In addition to technical assistance, Live Sessions, and material requests, year two has included the production of CHASCo’s harm reduction campaign, DOSE: Delivering Overdose Safety Education. This effort has been executed by CHASCo consultant Dasia Senanayake and supported by guidance from SAFE Project. To date, this project has included content and brand brainstorming, focus group discussions involving X students from across Tennessee, and preliminary branding creation. Development of DOSE will continue through the end of year two, with a goal of piloting initial content throughout year three.

As of the writing of this report, so far in the second year, the cohort has collectively distributed:

5,999 Xylazine Testing Strips

14 Campuses Have Installed ONEBoxes

7,839 Fentanyl Testing Strips

22,522 Units of Naloxone