A Prevention Research Center funded by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Mission
To work in partnership with youth, people
who work with youth, community residents,
public policymakers and program
administrators to help adolescents in
Baltimore transition to healthy adult
lifestyles
2
What we do
• Community participatory research to advance
healthy adolescent development
• Program evaluation
• Training: school and community
• Communication of results for practical application
in the community
• Promotion of policies that foster adolescent health
3
Organizational Structure
• Community Advisory Board (CAB) sets
agenda
• Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
participates in CAB and advises researchers
– LYAC
• Faculty associates
• Staff
• Students
4
Current Projects with Student
Opportunities
• Healthy Minds at Work
• Center for Urban Families Study
• Prevention in Churches
• HONESTY Project
• Cookshop Evaluation
• AstraZeneca Young Health Program and
WAVE
• Dating Matters Implementation
• Project Connect
• New work generated through renewal
5
Healthy Minds at Work
• Partnership with the Youth Opportunity Program (YO!) of
the : Mayor’s Office of Employment Development and
Historic East Baltimore Corporation
• Goal: to improve mental health status for out-of-school
youth in a setting that does not typically address health
needs (Screening, Peer Education, Counseling)
• Investigators:
– Darius Tandon (PI)
– Amanda Latimore (Post Doctoral Fellow)
– Peer Educators
6
Student Opportunities: HMAW
• Data now available for capstone projects and dissertation
papers.
– Individual characteristics, health and mental health
measures collected at baseline, 6-months, and 12months;
– Intervention dosage: receipt of mental health services;
– Employment and education measures
• Students interested in working with these data will work
closely with the study principal investigator Darius Tandon
[email protected] and postdoctoral fellow Amanda
Latimore [email protected]
7
Center for Urban Families: The
Impact Story Enhanced
.
• Goal: to enhance the Center for Urban Families’
capacity to document how the job readiness
program, STRIVE Baltimore, impacts clients and
their partners and kin.
• Methods: Life history interviews with 20 STRIVE
graduates (18-25 years old) and persons they
nominate as a significant other (N = 20).
8
Student Opportunities: Center
for Urban Families Project
• Students will be trained in qualitative data
analysis and interpretation.
• Investigator: Terri Williams
• Contact: Terri Williams at
[email protected].
9
Prevention in Churches (PiC)
• Goal: to better understand how sexual health
education and experiences influence the ways in
which people relay and receive HIV prevention
messages
• Methods :In-depth interviews with 20 young (1825 years old) Black men who have sex with men
and 10 faith leaders in Baltimore.
10
Student Opportunities: PiC
• Students will be trained in qualitative data
design, collection and analysis.
• Investigator: Terri Williams
• Contact: Terri Williams at [email protected]
11
Areas of Current Research:
The HONESTY Project
• HOrmonal & NEurological Survey of Texting Youth
• Goal: to examine adolescent (ages 18-25) decision-making
from biological (brain activity, hormones), psychological
(personality, mental health), and social (attitudes,
knowledge) perspectives; 1-year longitudinal study
• Currently collecting second in-person visit data
• Investigators:
– Jacinda K. Dariotis (PI)
– Kathleen Cardona (Project Coordinator)
– Nicole Lee (Grad Research Assistant)
– Devon Cross (Ugrad Research Assistant)
12
Student Opportunities: HONESTY
• Data now available for doctoral competencies, dissertation
papers, masters paper, capstones, & other publishable
papers.
– Visit 1 and 2 data
• Individual characteristics
• Sexual and substance use behaviors
• Health and mental health measures
• Neuropsychological assessments
– Weekly text message data on behaviors
• Students interested in working with these data will work
closely with the study PI Jacinda Dariotis and Co-I Kathleen
Cardona
13
Areas of Current Research:
CookShop Project
• Cookshop is a nutrition education program implemented by
the Foodbank of New York City that targets low-income
families to increase their knowledge, attitudes, and
behaviors regarding healthy food consumption.
• Goal: to conduct a process evaluation and a longitudinal
impact evaluation of two Cookshop projects: Cookshop
Classroom and Cookshop Families, which target early
elementary school students and their parents in the NYC
public schools
• Investigators:
– Kristin Mmari, Beth Marshall, Susan Gross, David Paige, and
Marycatharine Augustyn
14
Student Opportunities:
CookShop
• We currently have data from matched parent child dyads,
teachers trained to implement Cookshop, school
administrators, and food service staff. Data collection will
continue this fall, and includes qualitative and quantitative
methodologies
– Qualitative data includes in-depth interviews, focus groups, and
cafeteria observations recorded through digital photography.
– The quantitative data includes multiple surveys collected through
IPADS (iforms).
• Contact: Beth Marshall at [email protected]
15
Areas of Current Research: WAVE
• Well-being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments
• Goal: to examine how disadvantaged adolescents in
different urban environments define the meaning of health
and ill health, and to describe where adolescents go for
health information and services, as well as the barriers
they face in seeking or accessing help.
• Five sites: Baltimore, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Delhi, and
Ibadan
16
Student Opportunities: WAVE
• Previously collected qualitative data with young people
aged 15-19 years and the adults who work with them from
all sites for analysis
– Contact: Kristin Mmari ([email protected]) if interested.
• Survey data (collected through respondent driven
sampling) is currently available on two sites and the other
three should be available by Nov. 1. Opportunities are
available for data analysis.
– Immediate need – student to join substance use workgroup for JAH
supplement.
– Contact: Beth Marshall ([email protected]) if interested.
17
Areas of Current Practice: Dating
Matters
• As part of a three year evaluation study to test the
effectiveness of the Dating Matters curriculum in an urban
setting, the Center works with a group of young people,
“youth ambassadors,” who manage the social media face
of the project and create community support through
outreach and events.
18
Student Opportunities: Dating
Matters
• Students can work with youth ambassadors on the
implementation of the social media and community
outreach.
– Contact: Katrina Brooks at [email protected].
19
Project Connect
• GOAL: 3 year cooperative agreement with the CDC
to evaluate whether creating a male-focused
clinical provider guide & training youth-serving
professionals on the guide increases male youths’
sexual & reproductive healthcare use including HIV
testing
• Target populations
– Males aged 15-24
– African American & Latino males
– Young men who have sex with men
• Investigators: Arik Marcell, Freya Sonenstein, Jacky
Jennings, Renata Sanders, Kathleen Page, Nanlesta
Pilgrim (project coordinator)
20
Project Connect Student
Opportunities
• Two graduate research assistants (10-15hrs per week
each at $15 per hour) – needed immediately
– One RA will code and analyze focus group data
(approximately 20 focus groups with young
males). Knowledge of qualitative data analysis
software, such as ATLAS.ti or NVivo, is required.
– One RA will assist with data entry, management and
analyses of survey data collected from community
organizations, clinics and young males. Knowledge of
quantitative data analysis software, such as SPSS or
STATA, is required.
– Contact Nanlesta Pilgrim – [email protected]
21
New Opportunities
• In partnership with DHMH, Center faculty will be analyzing
Title X service data, assessing barrier to youth access, and
providing technical assistance to increase youth access.
• In partnership with BCHD, Center faculty will be offering
technical assistance organize a forum around sexual
health education in elementary school.
22
New Opportunities
• With Dr. Carlos Castillo- Salgado, Center faculty will develop
an adolescent health case study for the new urban health
observatory being developed by UHI and BCHD
• Center faculty and staff will support the development of
three Citywide networks – Service providers; Policy and
Funders; and Youth Advocacy and Leadership
• Contact Beth Marshall [email protected]
23
How to reach us
www.jhsph.edu/adolescenthealth
E4612
24