System Dynamics Modeling in Public Health
HEALing Communities Study (HCS)
The Center, under the leadership of Dr. Terry Huang and Dr. Nasim Sabounchi, is a leading component of the New York consortium of HCS, in partnership with Columbia University School of Social Work and other local institutions, to undertake a community-engaged intervention to reduce opioid overdose and deaths across 16 counties in New York State. New York is one of four states in the HCS (67 communities in total), funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (UM1DA049415). This multi-site implementation research study is testing the impact of an integrated set of evidence-based practices across health care, behavioral health, justice, and other community settings. The Center is, in particular, leading the effort of integrating systems dynamics modeling into the community-engaged intervention to help local counties prioritize and adapt their implementation strategies.
Using System Dynamics Modeling to Foster Real-time Connections to Care
Co-led by Center faculty member Dr. Nasim Sabounchi in collaboration with Yale University, this HD2A Innovation Project (3R61DA057675-01S1) aims to implement a novel, scalable, evidence-based, intervention that links people who have overdosed with access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), harm reduction services, and recovery supports. This project also aims to collect high-quality data about the processes and outcomes associated with deployment of this platform that can be integrated with our existing system dynamics model to determine if, where, when, and what interventions should be implemented in the future.
System Dynamics Modeling to Promote Health Equity in Management of Agitation
Dr. Sabounchi in collaboration with Yale University Emergency Medicine are applying systems dynamics modeling to identify and quantify modifiable targets for reducing disparities in agitation management and assess benefits and costs of potential interventions addressing those targets across diverse populations and marginalized groups. The study will make a positive contribution to mental health research by addressing staff safety and patient advocacy as one unified issue and applies simulation modeling and systems science methods to address the understudied topic of agitation management and reduce health disparities in psychiatric emergency care.
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