Census Tract 1045.

01
Substance
Abuse
Kendall Gisi, Lea Gombert, Gianna Graziani
College of Nursing, University of Arizona
NURS 473 Population Health and Community Nursing
Professor Allyson Kelly
February 19, 2024
 Learning Outcomes

01 02 03
IDENTIFY IDENTIFY THE GAIN BETTER
COMMUNITY HEALTH UNDERSTANDING
DIAGNOSIS AND STATUS WITHIN OF STRESSORS
INTERVENTIONS THIS AND STRENGTHS
COMMUNITY IN THIS
COMMUNITY
 Community
Assessment
What we noticed:
● Mostly made up of concrete with a few spots of grass along the
sidewalks
● Noisy, from the busy streets surrounding the community and local car
shops
● No street lamps in the residential area and unmaintained sidewalks
What is inside the community:
● There is a market, two churches, and a preschool inside the census
● Several apartment buildings, duplexes and multi-family homes
Community Strengths
and Stressors
Strengths:
- Resources for substance abuse, hunger,
and homelessness
- Food banks, women and infant shelters,
methadone clinics, community medical
services, social services, and homeless
shelters
- Well trained first responders

Stressors:
- Highly populated area
- Drug use and overdose
- Influx of fentanyl use
Community Health Diagnosis
Risk for ineffective coping for
middle-school children ages 12-15 years,
related to lack of resources for effective
coping mechanisms, as evidenced by KI
stating “the biggest issues in our
community is a high prevalence of
fentanyl substance abuse, housing
inadequacy”, and a high poverty level.
 Community Health Goal

Middle school children aged 12-15 will develop

effective coping skills through physical exercise
by the end of the school year.
Additional community goal: members of the
community is that they will engage in effective
coping mechanisms through physical exercise to
manage life stressors.
Why is this effective?

● Exercise reduces adrenaline and cortisol

and releases endorphins to elevate mood
(Harvard Medical School, 2020).
 Community Interventions

#1 #2
Create an exercise program for the Working with the school nurse and
day of tests/exams that takes kids the teachers to educate the children
outside to learn a new sport on healthier coping mechanisms for
Activities include: stress
● Running These include:
● Yoga ● Exercise
● Kick-ball ● Deep breathing
● Softball ● Talking to friends or family
● Baseball ● Reaching out to the school
counselor.
 Healthy People 2030

Overarching Focus Specific

OHM-01: Improve well-being
Through our program children can
find and utilize more beneficial
ways to cope thus health and
resilience of communities
nationwide will increase and
disadvantageous coping
mechanisms will decrease.
SU-05: Reduce the proportion of
adolescents who used drugs in the past
month
Achieved through:
● Behavioral and family-based
approaches
● Medications for addiction
treatment
● Recovery support services 9
 Current Legislation
Arizona Senate Bill 1486
In 2021 Governor Doug Ducey changed SB 1486 when it talks about what
is considered drug paraphernalia. Previously this bill stated that
everything that has to do with drugs including scales, test kits, and
measuring devices were all considered drug paraphernalia. Ducey
changed the bill to state that fentanyl testing kits are no longer
considered drug paraphernalia and are now considered legal.

This bill now states all drug paraphernalia is illegal “OTHER THAN
NARCOTIC DRUG TESTING PRODUCTS THAT ARE USED TO DETERMINE
WHETHER A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE CONTAINS FENTANYL OR A
FENTANYL ANALOG” (Arizona, n.d.).
 Evaluation
We would evaluate our interventions by:
- Observing the mood of students before
tests
- See if this stress relief increases test
scores
- Decrease in externalizing behaviors,
such as aggression and violence
- Ask students if they feel that exercise is
helping them stress less
- Ask teachers if they see a positive
change in students stress levels
 COVID-19 Impact
● Based on our KI Interviews,
● Our key informants did not
COVID-19 did not have a large
provide much information
impact on the resources in the
about what resources were still
community and the community
available and what resources
itself
were not available during the
● KI 5 stated:
COVID-19 pandemic and
○ It did not affect them, as
afterwards
they still had to do their
job and come to work
everyday
○ There were a lot less
people out and about on
the streets
Dissemination
● While this plan is specifically geared toward
middle school children within this community,
this activity and education could be available
community-wide through:
○ Informational flyers
○ Community seminars
○ The implementation of an adult program on
the effective coping strategies related to stress
(continuing education).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK5KOXLT15g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPoqxmaEhL4&t=1s
Questions?
 References
Andermo, S., Hallgren, M., Nguyen, T. T., Jonsson, S., Petersen, S., Friberg, M., Romqvist, A., Stubbs, B., & Elinder, L.
S. (2020). School-related physical activity interventions and mental health among children: a systematic
review and meta-analysis. Sports medicine - open, 6(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-020-00254-x
Arizona SB1486: 2021: Fifty-fifth legislature 1st regular. LegiScan. (n.d.).
https://legiscan.com/AZ/text/SB1486/id/2402079
Harvard Medical School. (2020). Exercising to relax. Harvard Health Publishing.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax#:~:text=Exercise%20 reduces%20
levels%20of%20the,natural%20painkillers%20and%20mood%20elevators.
Reduce the proportion of adolescents who used drugs in the past month — SU‑05. Healthy People 2030. (n.d.).
https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/drug-and-alcohol-use/reduc
e-proportion-adolescents-who-used-drugs-past-month-su-05
Overall well-being - ohm‑01 1. Overall well-being - OHM‑01 - Healthy People 2030. (n.d.).
https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/overall-health-and-well-being-measures/overall
-well-being-ohm-01?group=Age+group%E2%80%A0+%C2%A7&from=2021&to=2022&state=United+States&
populations=18-44_years#edit-submit
Personal Communication KI 1- Chief of the Fire Department.
Personal Communication KI 2- Fireman.
Personal Communication KI 3- Fireman.
Personal Communication KI 4- Social Worker.
Personal Communication KI 5- Police Officer.
Saeed, S. A., Cunningham, K., & Bloch, R. M. (2019). Depression and anxiety disorders:
Benefits of exercise, yoga, and meditation. American Family Physician, 99(10), 620–627.
Savage, C. L. (2019). Public / Community Health and Nursing Practice (2nd ed.). F. A. Davis Company.
https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781719642019
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