Case Studies
20/6/2023
In 2021, the Addiction, Drugs and Alcohol Institute (ADAI) at University of Washington received a mandate for ‘Exploring Policy Solutions to the Public Health Challenges of Non-Medical High THC Products’ Access and Consumption’. The research team needed an efficient and valid method to identify areas of common ground and consensus, and develop recommendations for state policies related to cannabis concentration and mitigating detrimental health impacts. Concept mapping, which combines both an ideation step and participant’s grouping and evaluation of ideas, seemed perfectly aligned to answer the needs of this project. In 2022, ADAI initiated a participatory concept mapping consultation with the help of Polygon across Washington State. The objective was to capture ideas from a variety of stakeholders and generate concept maps of policy solutions regarding high THC products.
’Capturing ideas from a variety of stakeholders and generate concept maps of policy solutions regarding high THC products.’
Three stakeholders of interest were identified by the research team, and included community stakeholders, – employees or volunteers of prevention & treatment organizations, educators & school administrators, or people who have experienced harms related to high THC–, professionals, including government employees, health care practitioners, and researchers, and cannabis advocates, for example representatives or employees of the cannabis industry or cannabis consumers. In collaboration with the research team, Polygon developed a brand and a website to facilitate recruitment, explain the objectives of the study and respond to needs and interests of all types of stakeholders. The study was named ‘Balance’, reflecting on the neutral positionality of the research team, while conveying a sense of equilibrium that needed to be found, along with the participatory dimension of the consultation. During the ideation phase, participants were asked to provide answers to the following question: ‘What can legislators do to curb the negative effects of high-THC products?’. Together with Polygon, the research team then pre-analysed the more than 300 policy ideas that were voiced to retain a subset of 46 ideas representative of their diversity. The second phase was then launched with success: some 149 participants from various backgrounds participated in the sorting and rating of ideas, with people providing estimates of potential impact and feasibility on 10-point Likert scales, from low impact/feasibility to high impact/feasibility. Additional open-ended questions asked about perceived policy implementation barriers and possible impacts on social equity.
'What can legislators do to curb the negative effects of high-THC products?'
When participants sort ideas, a proximity or similarity matrix is generated. This is simply a N by N table – N being the number of ideas – with each cell indicating how often two ideas were grouped together. The more often two ideas are put together, the closer conceptually. This similarity matrix can be transformed into concept maps using embedded algorithms available in Polygon’s CMap* solution. One algorithm performs a cluster analysis, putting ideas into distinct groups, summarizing participants’ understanding of how these ideas can be grouped conceptually. Because this proximity data is actually in N dimensions, distances between concepts need to be transformed into 2 or 3 dimensions for visualisation purposes. This is done with multidimensional scaling, an algorithm that minimizes distortions when re-projecting the data into a two or three-dimensional plan. All algorithms embedded in Polygon’s tools are open source and documented, facilitating reproducibility and strengthening comparability.
In this project, four concept maps and four ‘go-zone’ figures were produced, one representing the overall perception among all participants, and one per stakeholder type, that is, community, professionals and industry and cannabis advocates. These maps along with the go-zones provide a revealing picture of the themes and perceived impact and feasibility that were expressed by the participants. Further details on this study findings can be found in ADAI’s final report to the WA legislature, which includes various policy recommendations aiming to decrease access to high THC products, prevent initiation, empower consumers and the public with information and education, among others.
Credits:
Addiction, Drugs and Alcohol Institute website: click here.
AIDA report - ‘Exploring policy solutions to address public health challenges of High THC Products’: click here.
Tools & support solutions
Concept Mapping (CM*)
Service Design
Logistics & study management
Visual identity & communication
Knowledge mobilization & scientific writing
Data science
