Drug and Opioid Addiction in People 17-25

Introduction

Drug addiction seems prevalence among people between the ages of 17 and 25 in DeKalb County, Illinois. This has created an urgent need to deal with the problem; cases of mental illness and death have been prevalent among young adults in Illinois due to opioid addiction. It is, therefore, essential to find way out to help the young adults stop this addiction and drug abuse. The problem prevails due to the lack of proper guidance and health structures that support young adults in understanding the effects of drug abuse and its repercussions.

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This study will focus on the people of DeKalb County as the target group. The study will use research method designs to explore the use, reasons for the purpose, effects, solutions, and any action that is required to be undertaken to curb the menace. The study is substantive since it will depend on statistical data that is by DeKalb County regarding the opioid usage and drug abuse. A research conducted in 2018 showed that there was an increase in deaths resulting from opioid use, and the figure rose from 2.9% to 18.2% between 2015 and 2017. The study has two parts. The first part will look into details about opioid addiction, which entails the target population, the reason for choosing the target population, reasons it has turned to be a problem, ways to ensure the study is not harmful to the target subject, among other details. The other part will describe the research design method used to get data and information from the target population.

Literature Review

Many young adults have fallen into opioid addiction in DeKalb County. A research done by the DeKalb County Health Department through Local Assessment Need (2017-2022) project reveals that there is an increase in the rate of addictions among young adults over the past years. An increase in the deaths due to opioid usage is evident as the research continues to reveal.

The contributing factors to this addiction are into three categories, which they include; social attributes, individual attributes, and environmental attributes.

Causes that come from personal attributes may include the inability to control stress and resolve personal issues. This will lead to opioid abuse to relieve the tension. Family, friends, and colleagues attribute to the social factors which entail negligence, loneliness, peer pressure. Racism, low access to basic needs, and lack of structures that can educate young adults are some of the causes that influence environmental attributes.

This source is substantive; this is because it explores the real factors that are causing the high increase in the addiction of the opioid. Research needs' to be done to resolve the issue. Opioid addiction is turning to be a problem for society. This not just a condition. The problem is slowly rooting into the future of the community, and if the trend continues, more lives are at stake. Drug addiction affects every other person in society.

This study will involve meeting the target population on the ground level. The research will include 4,000 representatives through a household survey who will have the chance to outline their views regarding the addiction of opioids in DeKalb County. The study will also involve 52 participants that represent agencies and those who are a part of community leaders that know the health problem that is associated with drug abuse and addiction.

The research will also involve 11 groups of population in DeKalb County, where the vice seems to be more prevalent and let the groups outline their different views regarding the addiction. Finally, the research will use data from previous research sources that provide information regarding the addiction problem in DeKalb County.

The study will involve different kinds of approaches to create samples from the target population. The research will depend on every section of the community to create samples. It will use the agencies, community leaders, and the ordinary people in different households and design samples from data analyzed from the previous research. Through the creation of these samples, the study will be able to gather enough information regarding opioid addiction and find ways to resolve this issue. The samples will have to be part of the population of DeKalb County, and this will involve accessing census data from the government that shows the people of the target area. Through this census information, it will be easier to identify the areas with a large population and cities that are more prevalent in the addiction.

The research will give the community a chance to be a part of it. Through the involvement of the city to research as a part of it will enhance communication, and therefore there will be less useful to the community. The community will be able to air their views through open interactions amongst the community members. During the study, the research will give a chance to the target group to air their beliefs that they feel have been disregarded, and no action is being done. The involvement of participatory action research in such a case will be vital to the community.

The research will be free from harm to the target group involved. It will entirely focus on finding the issues that are facilitating the increased level of opioid addiction. The research will avoid sharing private information that may endanger the target group, and it will avoid asking questions that may harm or interfere in any way the privacy of a member of the target population.

The research will use design methods that fully gets access to information that is best in assessing health problems in the community. This will help in selecting targets that prevalent in the vice of drug abuse and addiction.

Research Methodology

The study will use four study design methods. This type of research will use both quantitative and qualitative research methods that include the four designs. The four methodology designs are composed of; field research (survey), informative interviews, focus groups, and secondary analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches are viable in collecting such data that involves assessing health problems in the community. It allows the target to air different kind of views, and by sourcing from different angles, and the researcher will be able to get information will help to resolve the problem. The four types of methodology will focus on the acquisition of data from every part of the target population.

Field Research/Household Survey

The method will use questioners formulated from various aspects. The questions will cover the entire menace of opioid addiction and give room for comments on the subject ideas are in connection to the problem. The questions are set according to different standards in the community. The measures include; age, gender, education level, area of residence, ethnicity, a period of residency, and the subjects may provide open-minded comments.

The examples of questions administered may include; what is drug abuse? Have you used any drugs before? What is the level of education attained? Have you tried to stop using opioids back? Were you able to stay for a certain period? Have you asked someone for help in preventing the addiction? What is your age, and how long have you been addicted to opioids? What any other kind of drug do you use apart from opioids? Would you like to stop using this drug? In addition to other, more questions are in line with the research.

Key Informative Interviews

This involves interviewing experts that are experienced in this field of study. The target groups here include the heads health agencies, local community leaders, and other researchers that have been involved in this kind of research before. The interviews will cover several areas of knowledge that genuinely supports in resolving these issues. The meetings will explore essential factors, which are a major key player in resolution. The interviews will key out barriers that hinder the decision of the problem. The previous researchers will point out the significant changes in recent and past years. The agencies help in finding the setting up of significant developments to curb the menace.

Focus Groups

These are small groups to discuss information that is a common goal. The focus group gets a chance to get information from target groups who may not get an opportunity to air their views. The groups will involve all kinds of gender, age, and people of different levels in the community to enhance equality among the members. These groups will give out information that they feel that is affecting their community, and through this information, the researchers can analyze the best way to take action.

Focus groups are viable since they will involve healthy conversations on what is happening around the community. They give target subjects a chance to express themselves to an individual level. With this information, the problem of opioid addiction will find a solution.

Focus groups are more viable than other modes, and this is because having discussions on issues revolving around the community will help them open their minds and come up with solutions to resolve the issue.

Secondary Sources Analysis

This involves analyzing data from previous researches. This method will compile all the data of earlier studies then compare and contrast the data to determine the trend of the problem in the last years. The analysis will consist of looking into details of various data of the target area from the past and sources. The comparison will include; latest prevalence, changes in specific periods, decrease or increase of the addiction in past years, resolutions placed, and their effects. This analysis will help in determining the course of action to take with the information collected from the above methods. A comparison of various sources will give the research a boost in formulating the best way to curb opioid addiction in DeKalb County.

The changes found in this research are to determine the course of action thereof. DeKalb County Health Department, 2017 reveals deaths figures due to opioid use between 2015 and 2016 increased from 2.9% to 18.2%, but this figure in 2017 decreased to 12.3% (DeKalb County Health Department, 2009). This study will focus on reducing the addiction to zero levels.

Conclusion

The increased rate in drug abuse and addiction is still high in DeKalb County. Research should be done with immediate effect to find useful data that will resolve the issue. With the required resources and research methods designs, such an analysis is vital in the collection of the data. The first insight is to determine the problem and its causes and later to come up with methods to collect data from the target population. The analyzing of the information will give an explicit action to take to resolve the issue. The goal of this study is to develop a clear framework for a research study.

References

DeKalb County Health Department, (2017): 2017-2022 Illinois Project for Local Assessment Needs. Retrieved from https://health.dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/IPLAN-2017-2022.pdf

DeKalb County Health Department, (2009): Mental Health Needs in DeKalb County. Retrieved from https://www.dekalbhealth.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/status-of-health2010.pdf