Paper Example on Opioid Crisis: Examining Its Economic and Social Impacts

Introduction

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, each day, over 100 people in the US succumb to opioid overdose. Some of the commonly used opioids include heroin, prescription pain relievers and synthetic opioids. The adverse effects of opioid have caused a crisis that affects economic and social welfare as well as public health. Moreover, the economic impact of opioid crisis is estimated to be $78 billion annually (National Institute on drug Abuse, 2019). This paper will propose a research that seeks to evaluate the causes of opioid abuse in the US and specific focus will be the abuse of prescription medication.

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Research question

The research question will be "What are the causes of prescription drug abuse in the United States?|

Hypothesis statement

My hypothesis statement is the lack of regulation of over-the-counter medications is the single-largest cause of the opioid crisis in the US.

Scope of research

The research will be limited to the abuse of prescription drugs within the United States. The focus on prescription drugs is important since the many cases of opioid abuse involve the use of prescription medications.

Literature Review Section

This section will contain information from academic journals and texts that discuss the issue of prescription drug abuse in the US. The researchers will use academic databases such as ProQuest and Google Scholar to search for timely and relevant articles that address the research topic. The findings from this section will inform the theoretical foundation of the study and will be used to explain the findings developed from the research.

Research methodology

This section will outline the proposed strategy that the research will apply in investigating the causes of the opioid abuse in the United States. it will discuss aspects such as the sample selection, nature of research, data collection and analysis, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and others.

Nature of the research

The research will be qualitative in nature and this is a research approach that is applied when analyzing subjective data that cannot be expressed in a quantitative format. This research strategy is effective when interpreting, describing or contextualizing certain phenomena or concepts. Since the research focuses on the causes of opioid abuse in the US, this information is qualitative in nature and cannot be measured using quantitative research.

Selecting the sample

For purposes of sampling, the research will adopt a convenience sampling approach. This is a form of sampling where participants are selected based on their availability and convenience in participating in the research process. Since substance abuse is a sensitive issue, it is important to select research participants who are willing to discuss the issue so that they can give honest feedback. Convenience sampling allows voluntary participation by research participants based on their availability and convenience. The sample will encompass both male and female participants based on their ability to participate on the research process. It will also involve people of different ages, ethnicities, races and other criteria. A diverse sample size will add depth to the research findings as researchers will have multiple perspectives on the research problem through evaluating the experiences of the research participants.

The sample size will encompass 100 participants. For purposes of an accurate research, the participants will include people who are addicted to prescription drugs, pharmacists, addiction counsellors, therapists, general healthcare practitioners, and the ordinary members of the public. The importance of having such a diverse group of participants is to enable the researchers to gather diverse perspectives on the research topic with the goal of developing accurate and practical findings that can be applied to resolve the opioid crisis in the US.

Specifically, the researchers will advertise the research on social media and certain websites and web forums where people will be asked to participate voluntarily and issue written consents. They will however not be required to give their names since the research will be anonymous to promote honest feedback. For the healthcare practitioners who will be involved in the study, the researchers will reach out to professional healthcare bodies and healthcare organizations through emails and other communication to seek voluntary participation of experts in the field of addiction. These professionals will develop an informed opinion that is guided by their professional practice experience and healthcare knowledge to develop findings on the potential causes of prescription drug abuse in the United States.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The inclusion and exclusion criteria evaluate the categories of participants who are either eligible or ineligible for the research. Inclusion criteria will be both males and females above the age of 18 who are willing to share their insights regarding prescription drug abuse in the US. The exclusion criteria will include people under the age of 18 and those who are mentally unstable. Additionally, employees in the pharmaceutical industry will also be excluded from the research since they may give biased responses to deflect the actual causes of opioid abuse and protect their employers from legal liability and a negative reputation.

Data collection

The research will apply different methods of data collection. The first is the use of secondary information sources such as academic journals and books that discuss the prescription drug crisis in the United States. These academic sources will contain empirical research that supports findings to enhance the accuracy and validity of the results. The secondary information sources will be used in the literature review section of the research to develop a theoretical background on the research problem and ascertain whether the practical research findings are consistent with prior studies on prescription drug abuse.

The second form of data collection will be face-to-face interviews and these will be used when conducting research on healthcare practitioners and pharmacists who are knowledgeable on the issue of prescription drug abuse. Their feedback will be anonymous and they will be allowed not to answer any questions they are not comfortable with. The participants will also not be required to give their names for purposes of maintaining confidentiality. The importance of using face to face interviews when accessing information from healthcare practitioners and pharmacists is that the researchers will be able to ask probing questions that can clarify any issues that arise in the course of gathering data on the research topic. The interviews will be conducted based on the convenience of the participants when they are free from work responsibilities. Additionally, the researchers will be trained on avoiding interviewer or interviewee bias when conducting research to enhance the quality and accuracy of the findings.

The third method of collecting data will be online surveys and these will be disseminated to members of the general public. They will be issued through online platforms such as social media pages and participants will not be required to fill in their names or answer questions they are no comfortable with to safeguard the accuracy of responses. The surveys will contain between 10 and 15 questions that interrogate the experience that participants have with prescription drug use and their perception on the main causes of prescription drug abuse in the US. The surveys will contain both open and closed-ended questions.

Data analysis

Data will be analyzed through the coding technique which evaluates the responses received and categorizes them depending on the similarity of the themes developed. Through evaluating the different themes that emerge from the findings, the researchers will be able to create core themes that explain the causes of the opioid crisis in the US. Moreover, the researchers will compare data from research with the literature review information to determine whether there is a convergence on explanations given for the opioid crisis.

Findings and discussions

This section will discuss the major findings from the research. The researchers will evaluate information from the literature review and the practical research study to ascertain whether the findings are consistent. Thereafter, researchers will offer explanations for the observations based on academic theory on the research topic. The researchers will also test the hypothesis statement to ascertain whether the lack of regulation is a key factor in the prescription drug crisis in the US. After discussing the findings, the research will develop a conclusion that includes a proposal on solutions that policy experts and pharmaceutical regulators should implement to address the opioid crisis. Additionally, the researchers will determine possible areas for future research based on their ability to determine the possible gaps in the research study.

References

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2019). Opioid overdose crisis. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis