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
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Organizational Structure
• Five Core Teams:
– Community Engagement, Partnerships &
Technical Assistance (Phyllis Sharps, Chair)
– Communication and Dissemination (David
Jernigan, Chair)
– Training (Carlos Castillo-Salgado, Chair)
– Evaluation (Anne Duggan, Chair), and
– Research (Phil Leaf PI/Chair)
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Organizational Structure
• Proposed Creation of Three City-Wide
Networks:
– Youth Engaged Organizations
– Youth Service Providers,
– Policy Makers and Funders
• Academic Advisory Board
– Chaired by Bob Blum
• Community Advisory Board
• Youth Advisory Committee
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What we do
• Conduct high-quality applied prevention research
in partnership with community constituencies and
youth
• Improve public health practice affecting
adolescents
• Apply and increase the knowledge and expertise of
Johns Hopkins University and partners to address
practical public health problems related to
adolescents
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What we do
• Design, implement, evaluate, and disseminate
cost-effective methods and strategies for
promoting the health and well-being of
adolescents
• Shorten the time lag between the development of
prevention and health promotion strategies and
their widespread application
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What we do
• Showcase the application of effective prevention
and intervention practices and policies by
partnering with the Mayor’s Office, Baltimore City
Health Department, Baltimore City Public Schools
and other agencies and community constituencies
– to understand how to increase the impact of an
evidence based program aimed at reducing the
involvement of students in multiple health risk
behaviors including substance use, violence and sexual
risk-taking; and improve academic performance
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New Projects with Student
Opportunities
• Core Project – Implementation of Life Skills
Training augmented by additional sexual health
modules in BCPS ([email protected])
– Augmenting Annual Student Survey
– Developing system for working with students to
problem solve with the student survey data
• Collaborations with Deputy Mayor for Health,
Human Services, Education, and Youth
([email protected])
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New Projects with Student
Opportunities
• Baltimore City Opportunity Youth Collaborative
([email protected])
• Collaborations with Holistic Life Foundation
([email protected])
• Developing an adolescent health case study for
the new Public Health Observatory
([email protected])
• Reducing Youth Exposure to Alcohol Marketing
([email protected])
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New Projects with Student
Opportunities
• Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and
Evaluation Network (NOPREN) - Collaborating
Center ([email protected])
• Workplace Health Research Network (WHRN) –
Collaborating Centers
([email protected])
• Physical Activity Policy and Evaluation Research
Network Plus (PAPRN+): Coordinating Center
([email protected])
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Existing Projects with Student
Opportunities
• Healthy Minds at Work ([email protected])
• Prevention in Churches ([email protected])
• The Faith Project ([email protected])
• Well-being of Adolescents in Vulnerable
Environments ([email protected])
• HONESTY Project ([email protected])
• Cookshop Evaluation ([email protected])
• Dating Matters Implementation
([email protected])
•Project Connect ([email protected])
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How to reach us
www.jhsph.edu/adolescenthealth
E4612
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Healthy Minds at Work
• Goal: to improve mental health status and outcomes for
out-of-school youth in a setting that does not typically
address health needs
• Youth 16-22 years old engaged in a multi-component
program of mental health and educational activities
(Screening, Peer Education, Counseling) streamlined and
integrated into a community-based employment training
program.
• Mental health, education, employment and incarceration
outcomes were improved through Healthy Minds at Work.
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Student Opportunities: HMAW
• Data (at baseline, 6- and 12-months) now available for
capstone projects and dissertation papers.
– Individual characteristics, health and mental health measures
– Access to and receipt of health services
– Employment , incarceration and education measures
• Students interested in working with these data should
contact
• Amanda Latimore (PFRH Faculty): [email protected]
• Darius Tandon (PI): Darius Tandon
[email protected]
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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)
– Devon Cross (Ugrad Research Assistant)
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Student Opportunities with
HONESTY
• 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
• Student assistance is needed for analyses of time 1, time
2, and text messaging data as well as literature searches
for papers and proposals
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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
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Student Opportunities with
CookShop
• We currently have data from matched parent child dyads,
teachers trained to implement Cookshop, school
administrators, and food service staff.
• 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]
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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
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Student Opportunities with
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 all sites. Opportunities
are available for data analysis.
– Contact: Beth Marshall ([email protected]) if interested.
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FAITH Study
• Partnership with Sisters Together and Reaching (STAR)
• Goal: to understand the influence on adolescents of youth
ministers within African American churches located in low
income, urban communities with disproportionately high
rates of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and STD infections
• Qualitative Data from Nine Local Churches
– In-depth interviews from senior pastors and youth ministers and
Focus groups from parents and youth
– Topics discuss include: Issues faced by teenage congregants,
influence of faith leaders, characteristics of faith-based sexual
health programs, barriers and facilitators of program
implementation
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PiC Project
• Goal: to better understand how, if at all, churches
can address HIV prevention among men who have
sex with Men (MSM)
• In-depth interviews with 30 young adult (ages 18-25)
African American MSM living in Baltimore, MD
• Topics discussed include: sexual health and behaviors,
church experiences, family relations, social support,
recommendations for involving MSM in faith-based HIV
prevention
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Student Opportunities with
FAITH Study and PiC Project
• Students needed to analyze and interpret qualitative data
– Basic knowledge of Atlas.ti requested, but not required
– All data has been transcribed and coded
• Opportunities to develop Capstones, Master’s Essays and
peer-reviewed publications
– Background knowledge in faith-based research not required
– Papers need not be linked to faith-based topics
• This is a PAID Research Assistant Position
• Contact: Terri Williams ([email protected])
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Dating Matters
• This project focuses on the prevention of teen dating
violence. We work in partnership with the CDC, the
Baltimore City Health Department, and Ogilvy.
• The Center works with a group of high school students,
who manage the social media face of the project and
create community support through outreach and events.
Student Opportunities
• Unpaid, flexible amount of time
• Students can work with the young people on the
implementation of the social media and community
outreach.
– Contact: Meghan Rimelspach [email protected]
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Project Connect
•This project focuses on connecting young men in Baltimore
with sexual and reproductive healthcare through the
development and dissemination of a clinical guide.
•Investigators: Arik Marcell, Freya Sonenstein, Jacky
Jennings, Renata Sanders, Kathleen Page
Student Opportunities
•Paid research assistant, 12-18 hrs per week
•Proficiency with data analysis including coding, recoding,
and running frequencies as well as conducting literature
reviews and strong writing skills desired. Preference will be
given to individuals who can commit to working on the
project for a full year or more.
• Contact: Meghan Rimelspach [email protected]
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