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Lucy Family Institute, Health Department identify youth vaping intervention strategies for St. Joseph County

2025-02-19T10:23:00-05:00

While tobacco use has declined among adolescents since the 1990s, the advent of candy and fruit-flavored e-cigarettes or vapes is ushering in a new era of high-risk habits that are appealing directly to middle and high school-aged youth.

The University of Notre Dame’s Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and the St. Joseph County Department of Health partnered to evaluate and design technology-based interventions that call attention to the risks of e-cigarette use in young adults. Their goal for the study was to identify opportunities for improving health outcomes for St. Joseph County residents who may be at an increased risk of health complications due to social and economic factors including loss of livelihood, injuries or income instability.

Matthew Sisk, an associate professor of the practice in the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society at Notre Dame.

With guidance from the Department of Health, Lucy Family Institute researchers leveraged geospatial analysis to create a data dashboard, which shows an overlay of cancer incidence and mortality data by zip codes within St. Joseph County. This technique enabled researchers to identify social determinants of health (SDOH) that might indicate social and economic vulnerabilities. This was then used to identify populations likely to have poor health outcomes.

“When we evaluated the results, lung cancer data generated distinctive differences across the different zip codes of the county,” said Matthew Sisk, associate professor of the practice at the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society. Sisk, who also leads the Civic-Geospatial Analysis and Learning Lab, added, “Within South Bend, higher cases of lung cancer are reported in younger, more ethnically and racially diverse areas, while in other areas of the county, higher incidence trends toward older populations.”

These findings prompted further inquiries from the Department of Health and the Lucy Family Institute, who sought greater insight into the accessibility of tobacco products for youth in the county. “We also mapped the locations of schools, gas stations and tobacco shops within St. Joseph County,” said Sisk. The data indicates a pressing need for increased awareness of the risks of smoking for middle and high school students — many of whom attend school within a few miles of tobacco shops and gas stations where e-cigarettes are heavily advertised.

Researchers in the field also aim to understand how to leverage technology to stem teen e-cigarette use. In 2024, over 1.5 million students in middle and high schools within the United States reported using e-cigarettes, making it the most commonly used tobacco product among young adults ages 14 to 18. In Indiana, 6.3 percent of middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes — roughly 1 percent higher than the national average.

To understand and reverse this rise in e-cigarette use, the researchers reviewed over 90 studies examining existing technology-based prevention and cessation interventions and strategies. Interviews with teenagers and public health stakeholders, designed by Karla Badillo-Urquiola, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, provided important insights into the effectiveness of various intervention strategies.

“We are committed to advancing the well-being of individuals in our local community. A critical component of these efforts is investing in the health of the next generation,” said Nitesh Chawla, the project’s principal investigator and founding director of the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society at Notre Dame. “Through our collaboration with partners on campus and in South Bend, the Lucy Family Institute is generating key insights that can guide policy improvements for a healthier St. Joseph County,” he added.

The findings from the study inform future intervention strategies for implementation by the St. Joseph County Department of Health and other stakeholders in the community. The recommendations suggest an emphasis on the critical impact that middle and high school students could have in designing interventions that align with their preferences and digital habits. Additionally, program feedback loops were suggested that would welcome providers and public health workers to share the challenges and successes of intervention programs that can work to improve future models.

“The Health Department is dedicated to the well-being of our community. Using data and evidence-based interventions, we ensure our programs are impactful and effective. Public health is our priority, and we collaborate with educational institutions, community partners, local officials and the general public to create a healthier future for everyone,” said St. Joseph County Health Officer Diana Purushotham.

The recommendations were presented to the St. Joseph County Department of Health in December 2024. A poster presentation and a publication will follow.

Other collaborators involved in the project’s recommendations include Mary Mumbi Wachira, Johanna Olesk, Maria Milkowski and Matthew Stoner. The Health Department team included Dr. Diana Purushotham, Renata Williams, Alissa Balke and Brandon Gary.

For more information about projects within the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society’s Health Equity Data Lab, please visit the website.

To learn more about the St. Joseph County Department of Health’s ongoing efforts to improve the lives and well-being of our community members, visit their website.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

Notre Dame, St. Joseph County to partner for maternal health ‘one-stop shop’

2024-03-04T12:46:00-05:00

Today, giving birth to a child is no longer the most dangerous part of becoming a mother.

Eighty percent of pregnancy-associated deaths occur in the postpartum period (up to one year following a birth), according to the Indiana Department of Health. And unlike complications during birth, the vast majority of postpartum deaths are preventable. These risks require immediate interventions aimed at improving the health and well-being of mothers.

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are taking action by engaging community partners in St. Joseph County, Indiana, to help improve access to health care services for pregnant and postpartum women in underserved areas of the community.

Yenupini Joyce Adams/University of Notre Dame

Yenupini Joyce Adams, the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health lead for the Eck Institute for Global Health at Notre Dame, is spearheading these efforts by implementing new approaches to postpartum care in St. Joseph County.

Adams, who is an assistant professor of the practice for the Eck Institute and concurrent assistant professor of the practice at the Keough 91��Ƶ of Global Affairs, has received funding from Health First St. Joseph County to pilot the Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village program, a monthly “one-stop shop” of existing, evidence-based programs that are currently operating in St. Joseph County communities.

“The goal of the Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village is to establish a trusted, consistent, monthly ‘one-stop shop’ for mothers and families to access connection to care, resources and support that will address social drivers of health, well-being, and mental health, in addition to physical health during pregnancy and the postpartum period, in one convenient location,” Adams said.

The Pop Up Pregnancy & Family Village program will begin in August and September at locations in South Bend and Mishawaka. There will be no cost for participants to attend and receive care.

Adams will provide a free information session at the St. Joseph County Public Library in April for area health professionals and wellness organizations interested in participating in this important initiative, which is expected to expand to other northern Indiana communities through support from Beacon Community Impact.

Building partnerships within St. Joseph County is well-aligned with the University’s commitment to supporting the health and well-being of others through translational research that can advance the local community. Support from the St. Joseph County Health Department, Beacon and Saint Joseph health systems and several community-based organizations for the pop-up project will supplement other University-sponsored programs in the South Bend community.

Partnerships with the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and Beacon Health System are enabling Adams to leverage insights from her work in Ghana to address maternal mortality through group postpartum care programs that will be implemented in Indiana. While group prenatal care programs that offer peer support to expectant mothers are common within U.S. health care systems, group postpartum care models have yet to be implemented. The group postpartum care model developed by Adams will be among the first to be integrated into a health care system in the U.S.

With several ongoing efforts to improve the health of mothers and children, the Eck Institute recently announced a Maternal, Newborn and Child Health working group that is mobilizing University researchers and campus partners to inspire maternal health advancements within the South Bend community.

“The University of Notre Dame is dedicated to working with community partners to develop local programs that accelerate our impact for good in low- and middle-income communities,” said Bernard Nahlen, director of the Eck Institute for Global Health and professor of biological sciences. “As part of this continuing alliance, the Eck Institute is fully committed to supporting global and local research that seeks to improve maternal health outcomes.”

In the United States, the standard for postpartum care involves just one doctor visit at six weeks post-birth. Adams hopes that by establishing a consistent monthly event that is conveniently located within local communities, “we can reduce health access barriers that have historically led to postpartum health complications and death.”

“Access to postpartum care services should be available to anyone, anywhere,” Adams said. “I am hopeful that we can reduce Indiana’s maternal mortality rates with our partners at the University and in the community. No woman should have to sacrifice her life to give life.”

To learn more about upcoming Maternal, Newborn and Child Health events or to join the working group, visit the Eck Institute for Global Health website.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

Contact: Erin Blasko, associate director of media relations, 574-631-4127, eblasko@nd.edu

Notre Dame develops user-friendly platform to access comprehensive nationwide opioid database

2024-02-26T13:22:00-05:00

The weight of the opioid crisis is heavy.

From 2006 to 2019, more than 100 metric tons of prescription opioid pain relievers — roughly the weight of a loaded Boeing 757-200 aircraft — were dispensed to individuals across Indiana. Widespread opioid use is leading to devastating socioeconomic and health challenges, but organizations and policymakers working to fix the problem have not had a clear picture of opioid manufacture and travel.

Now, a public database is filling in those details through a user-friendly interface developed at the University of Notre Dame. This platform enables public access to more than 10 years of national controlled substance transaction information. This data structure makes querying easier and faster, providing transactional data on 14 different opioids including fentanyl, hydrocodone and oxycodone.

The database stores the Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS), a collection of more than 550 million detailed opioid transactions that were submitted to the Drug Enforcement Administration by manufacturers and distributors of controlled substances from 2006 to 2019.

“Understanding the root of the drug crisis is crucial for medical professionals, researchers and policymakers to mitigate its impact effectively,” said William Evans, the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics and co-founder of the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). “This is critical as this crisis has been particularly devastating for certain groups such as those who have been left behind in the economy. With this data, we now have unbelievable detail about the origins of this crisis, and we hope that this information can be part of developing solutions.”

The ARCOS data became available through Paul Farrell Jr., a 1994 Notre Dame alumnus and co-lead attorney in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation. Although Farrell and his team at Farrell & Fuller had made the secured data publicly available on their firm’s site, the data set was very difficult to work with given its size.

Wanting to make this data more accessible to researchers, policymakers and health professionals, Farrell and the case’s expert witness met with researchers from LEO and Notre Dame’s Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society. Together, they created a plan for transferring the data to the University and gained a deeper understanding of the data.

Researchers from across campus collaborated with Farrell to develop a website where the records could be stored for public use. Evans and Ethan Leiber, the Gilbert F. Schaefer Associate Professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Economics, partnered with the Lucy Family Institute’s Applied Analytics and Emerging Technology Lab (AETL) to facilitate the design and development of the new platform, ARCOS.nd.edu.

The website offers customizable queries that trace the journey of individual prescription opioid purchases, from the state and county of manufacture to distribution within communities where they are dispensed.

Michael Kennel, lead software solutions architect with AETL, developed the user-friendly interface for ARCOS. He hopes that access to the data on ARCOS.nd.edu will provide insights into understanding the rise of opioid misuse in America.

“The opioid crisis has claimed millions of lives. To change that, researchers need an easier way to obtain and analyze the data behind the crisis,” Kennel said.

Nitesh Chawla, founding director of the Lucy Family Institute and the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, noted that the project’s goal to provide user-oriented access to substance abuse transaction data aligns with Notre Dame’s goal of pursuing research that provides discoveries to enhance human well-being. He described the opioid epidemic as “one of society’s wicked problems.”

“Addressing this challenge is central to the mission of the Lucy Family Institute and is aligned with the University’s strategic framework,” Chawla said. “The data itself is not going to save a life, but the results from our collective research using the data can provide impactful data innovations that promote the prosperity of humanity. We are grateful for this collaboration with LEO, as it truly is a story of domain-informed, data-driven research for societal impact.”

This effort also informs a larger data platform initiative that AETL is launching this year, which “aims to scale impact by reducing barriers to access data and leverage advanced machine-learning resources,” said Rick Johnson, managing director of AETL.

The ARCOS website will expand as more information is collected to include additional years. In anticipation of this, the AETL team is continuing to optimize the user experience by developing enhanced query tools and file export options. Kennel explained that “at AETL, the apps that we build may not necessarily have an immediate impact on someone’s life, but we’re enabling people to do things that will have that kind of lasting impact.”

To learn more about future AETL project collaborations, visit the Lucy Family Institute website.

Contact: Brandi Wampler, associate director of media relations, 574-631-2632, brandiwampler@nd.edu

Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958, tdestazi@nd.edu