Making the Most of Available Substance Abuse Data and Building Epidemiological Capacity for Local Community Coalitions in a Rural State – South Dakota

BACKGROUND: South Dakota, as many rural and sparsely populated states faces challenges in using national data and surveillance systems because of small population in rural areas.  As part of the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant sponsored by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, South Dakota has worked diligently to enhance epidemiological capacity for collection, analysis and reporting for substance abuse indicators at the state and community levels for use in monitoring community needs and in implementing substance abuse prevention strategies. 

METHODS: To overcome small sample sizes for communities, South Dakota has employed an aggregation process to develop sub-state regional estimates of substance abuse rates using national data sources such as the BRFSS.   In addition, South Dakota has begun exploring the use of smart phone technologies for use by community coalitions for collection of local community substance abuse data for use by community coalitions. 

RESULTS: South Dakota and local communities have had success in aggregating data for regional substance abuse rates.  The state and local communities continue to struggle for establishing viable methods for estimating substance abuse rates and indicators for small rural areas and sub-populations.

CONCLUSIONS: The presentation will discuss and summarize South Dakota’s success and challenges in building substance abuse epidemiological capacity at the state and community level.