Prevention Activity 2A: CLAS Standards
The RCORP-Implementation initiative includes a grant requirement to address part of Core Prevention Activity #2:
Provide and assess the impact of culturally and linguistically appropriate education to improve family members’, caregivers’, and the public’s understanding of evidence-based treatments and prevention strategies for SUD/OUD
Utilizing a micro community of practice (workgroup), a subset of members from the master consortium worked to consider how CLAS related to prevention, treatment, and recovery for opioid use disorder in rural and Appalachian communities in Ohio.
Why:
The National CLAS standards are intended to advance health equity, improve quality, and help eliminate health care disparities by establishing a blueprint for health and health care organizations to provide effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful quality care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs. (Principal standard of CLAS)
Who:
Each local consortium determined the size and mix of representatives to participate in the CLAS workgroup micro learning community. Each consortium also utilized a locally driven community-based process to independently review the standards, including assessing current practices and prioritizing action plans to address CLAS. The flexibility to self-select participants resulted in a wide variety of people who engaged the process, including consortia members, direct service providers, and key stakeholders who influence OUD service delivery.
What:
The workgroup met bi-weekly from March 2020 to June 2020 to identify opportunities for shared work and collaboration. Workgroup members discussed their processes, priorities for implementation, and initial changes they were making in their practices. In May 2020, the COP-RCORP Master Consortium adopted a position statement on culturally and linguistically appropriate services for all RCORP-related core activities. Each of the local consortia plans to incorporate the guiding principles into their community-based work.
Master Consortium Position Statement: Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS)
May 4, 2020
The COP-RCORP Master Consortium recognizes the importance of utilizing the CLAS Standards when implementing all RCORP OUD/SUD activities and strategic plans in five rural communities in Ohio. We strive to engage in a continuous, data-driven, and collaborative process to address health disparities and promote respectful, responsive, and accessible services. By strengthening our knowledge, skills, and awareness of culturally and linguistically appropriate services, we demonstrate our commitment to enhance health equity across the evolving continuum of care.
How:
The accordion table below presents the key steps in the process undertaken by the workgroup members. These steps include reviewing the standards, deciding how to prioritize them locally, creating an action plan for addressing CLAS, and creating the mater-level guidance statement for COP-RCORP. The last tab includes key resources for understanding CLAS.
Presentation on CLAS Standards Workgroup
In July 2020, the CLAS Workgroup members made a presentation to the HRSA Government Project Officer and JBS International regarding the CLAS workgroup and results of the process. This video showcases the four communities and their experiences.
Video Link Here CLAS Training
COVID-19 Interrupted a lot of the CLAS Workgroup plans. However, members were still able to provide a state-wide, virtual CLAS training. The training flyer and presentation slides are linked below.
Initial Resources
COVID-19 Interrupted a lot of the CLAS Workgroup plans. However, members were still able to provide a state-wide, virtual CLAS training. The training flyer and presentation slides are linked below.
1. 2-page Written Overview: a handy reference of the 15 standards, organized by thematic areas.
2. Basic Fundamentals Overview Video (44 minutes long): The first 25 minutes provide an overview and fundamentals of the CLAS standards. The remaining 20 minutes cover resources that might be helpful for future reference.
3. More In-depth Videos: If you are already familiar with the standards and want to review something more in-depth, here is a link to profession-specific e-learning programs. Please note you will need to create a free account to watch these and many are a series of videos.
COP-RCORP has created the following questions to guide discussion as members reviewed these resources:
What is something you learned?
What is a question you have?
How could the consortium expand its resources about CLAS standards?
What other resources do you know about that could be helpful?
Getting Started
Assess Implementation
The slide deck below is meant to guide conversation about the standards. After a chance to share ideas and thoughts as well as solution-find regarding group questions, each local consortium and the master consortium can independently assess implementation status for the activities related to CLAS standards using the checklist below. Based on the checklist from Think Cultural Health, COP-RCORP has developed a fillable checklist with guiding questions to help facilitate moving forward in addressing these standards (included in the checklist document).
Prioritizing
On our Second meeting, we completed a group SWOT together to help leadership glean insights about the group’s overall S-W-O-T and move toward the master consortium deliverable (vision/mission statement, guidance doc). Communities then completed a community-level SWOT (looking across all standards from their completed checklist). After the SWOT is completed, communities answered reflection questions. The purpose of the reflection questions is to begin the prioritization process (what 2-3 standards the community will choose to focus on for action planning).
Action Planning
COP-RCORP has created an Action Planning Template to assist in moving from the early stages of planning into taking action to meet CLAS standards. This template includes steps to:
- Reflect on weaknesses and threats from the SWOT
- Identify the first steps needed to act
- Create a timeline for implementing
- List the resources needed to accomplish the tasks
- Bring the partners needed to the table
- Plan for ensuring accountability
After completing the template, COP-RCORP members met with a workgroup peer from another consortium to discuss their draft Local Action Plans and provide feedback/suggestions. Then, local consortia finalized their Local Action Plan independently.
To address changes related to COVID-19, we developed this form for communities to document how activities shifted during the pandemic.
Creating a Shared Vision
Ohio Defines Cultural Competence
A continuous learning process that builds knowledge, awareness, skills and capacity to identify, understand and respect the unique beliefs, values, customs, languages, abilities and traditions of all Ohioans in order to develop policies to promote effective programs and services
(Multiethnic Advocates for Cultural Competence, 2006)
A continuous learning process that builds knowledge, awareness, skills and capacity to identify, understand and respect the unique beliefs, values, customs, languages, abilities and traditions of all Ohioans in order to develop policies to promote effective programs and services
Vision: Transform Ohio’s evolving behavioral health continuum to be free of cultural and linguistic disparities.
OhioMHAS DACC Leadership
Disparities and Cultural Competence Manager
Health Equity & Cultural Competency Policy/Program
Health Equity & Cultural Competence Administrator
Using these supports, the COP-RCORP CLAS standards workgroup developed the following guidance for the Master Consortium and Local Consortia regarding how this initiative will address CLAS standards
The COP-RCORP Master Consortium recognizes the importance of utilizing the CLAS Standards when implementing all RCORP OUD/SUD activities and strategic plans in five rural communities in Ohio. We strive to engage in a continuous, data-driven, and collaborative process to address health disparities and promote respectful, responsive, and accessible services. By strengthening our knowledge, skills, and awareness of culturally and linguistically appropriate services, we demonstrate our commitment to enhance health equity across the evolving continuum of care.
Sustainability and Accountability
After completing action plans, the CLAS workgroup decided to meet quarterly to share progress and updates on their goals. Recognizing that addressing CLAS is not a one-time activity, the group has plans to decide on sustainable processes for the future of each local consortia.
Resources
Master Consortium Position Statement on CLAS
Addiction Policy Forum Video Discusses Stigmatizing Language
Research has shown that the words we use to describe substance use
disorders (SUD) have a significant impact on those struggling with
addiction and how they are treated. Addiction Policy Forum’s three
minute video explains why five commonly used addiction terms
need to be erased from your vocabulary, and offers suggestions for
what to say instead.
