Our group project addresses the opioid epidemic in America with a specific focus on the state of Connecticut as well as analyses of nationwide trends. We chose Connecticut as our state of interest because it is a state above average in terms of socioeconomic status. We wanted to see how people there have been impacted by the epidemic as contrary to popular belief, opioid addiction can affect people regardless of age, gender, or socioeconomic status.
We used data from data.gov on Connecticut prescriptions, Connecticut accidental drug deaths, Connecticut rehabilitation facility admissions, federal overdose deaths, and federal opioid prescribing rates.
Our research questions are as follows:
In the data folder, we have included both the original and cleaned versions of the datasets pulled from data.gov.
The data_analysis folder contains our individual analyses of the datasets. Each dataset has two files: one introduces the data at a high level by examining, cleaning, and exploring the dataset, while the second labeled with analysis or step2 attempts to find meaningful relationships and stories in and among the datasets.
Our final project is a data-driven blog post found in the final_data_story folder. We introduce some background information about the opioid epidemic in the US (which began in the late 1990s), illegal opioids, and opioid addiction. Then, we tie together our analyses at the Connecticut and federal levels utilizing graphs, regressions, and map visualizations to tell the story of the opioid crisis. The summary contains important insights gained from our data and also includes resources to address opioid addiction.
In the presentations folder, we have included PDFs of both our initial and final project presentations. The initial presentation discusses our plan for research regarding the topic, and the final presentation outlines our completed analyses.
Thank you so much, and we hope our project sheds light on the opioid crisis in both Connecticut and at the federal level.