Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Deaths due to prescription painkillers and heroin have quickly become national, state, and local public health concerns. Studies using data from Medical Examiners or Coroner Offices throughout the United States have been conducted and are contributing to the understanding of this epidemic. However, the analysis of these fatalities are specific to the communities where the study was conducted and cannot be assumed that the decedents in one community are similar to decedents in another community. Many local governments and agencies throughout the U.S. are aware that this problem exists in their communities, but are not prepared to adequately respond to and intervene in these fatalities as an analysis of those who have died has rarely been conducted. This dissertation is a replication study of longitudinal epidemiological analyses of opiate related fatalities that was implemented in a location where an analysis of opiate-related fatalities had not been conducted, Marion County, Indiana. The purpose of the dissertation was twofold: (1) to describe the demographic characteristics of the decedents using publicly available data from the Marion County Coroner’s Office to be used in informing future preventative efforts to decrease opiate-related fatalities in Marion County and (2) to inform other communities on how to conduct a similar analysis in their own community. This dissertation describes the methods of the replication study, provides descriptive results of the people who died from opiate-related overdoses, and: (a) Report the types of opiates identified in blood toxicology reports and (b) Present the histories of opiate-related decedents as reported in the Deputy Coroner Field Officer’s Reports (DCFOR). Additionally, analysis was conducted to determine if decedent characteristics deferred depending on the type of opiate fatality based on the toxicology in 1) heroin alone, 2) painkillers alone, and 3) heroin and painkillers combined.

Abuse of prescription and over-the-counter substances other than alcohol is becoming a prevalent issue; therefore, it is important to identify factors that may help predict risk for this abuse. Some demographic and situational factors have been identified for traditional 4-year college students. However, less is known about community college students, who enter college less academically prepared and may be still enmeshed with family and peer groups from high school. In this correlational study, predictors of substance abuse other than alcohol were explored among a convenience sample of 118 students from an American community college. The research question was developed based on previous research such as Bandura's social learning theory and Arnett's theory of emerging adults. The question explored how well gender (male, female, other) and 2 dimensions from the Ryff scale of psychological well-being (sense of autonomy and positive relationships with others) predict substance use among the community college sample. Use of substances other than alcohol was measured using the Drug Abuse Screening Test-10. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the research hypotheses. Although gender was not related to substance use, higher autonomy and more positive relationships scores were statistically significant predictors of higher use of substances other than alcohol among this sample. These findings were consistent with characteristics of emerging adulthood that may present risk factors for this group of college students. Findings support positive social change as they may be considered by stakeholders when considering possible prevention or intervention activities to address substance use issues on community college campuses.