A Prevention Research Center Funded by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Mission
The Center for Adolescent Health (CAH) is
committed to helping Baltimore’s youth to
become healthy and productive adults. We
collaborate with community partners and youthserving organizations to conduct research and
develop programs that are tested and proven to
advance healthy adolescent development.
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Five Core Activities
• Research
• Community Engagement
• Training
• Communication
• Evaluation
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Organizational Structure
• Three City-Wide Networks:
▫ Youth Leadership and Advocacy – Co-Chaired by
the Youth Commission and CAH
▫ Youth Service Providers (in process, to be CoChaired with the Health Department
▫ Policy Makers and Funders (Function currently
served by Baltimore’s Promise)
• Community Advisory Board
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What We Do
• Partner to conduct and facilitate high-quality
applied prevention research in partnership with
community constituencies and adolescents,
youth, and their families
• Apply and increase the knowledge and
expertise of JHU and partners to address
practical public health problems related to
adolescents, youth, and their families
• Improve public health practice affecting
adolescents, youth, and their families
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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, youth, and their families
• 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
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Core Project
• Development of modules covering sexual behavior
to augment an existing evidence based program
for substance use and violence prevention.
▫ Collaborating on implementation of the School Wellness
Policy
▫ Augmenting Annual Student Survey with Health
▫ Increasing student/youth input into policies and practices
• Collaborations with Deputy Mayor for Health,
Human Services, Education, and Youth; City
Health Department, Police Department,
Department of Social ServicesPublic Schools;
Maryland State Departments of Education &
Juvenile Justice ([email protected])
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Current Projects within CAH
• Baltimore City Opportunity Youth Collaborative
([email protected])
• Collaborations with Holistic Life Foundation
([email protected])
• Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative
([email protected])
• U Choose Evidence Based Programs
([email protected] )
• RALES Center for the Integration of Health and Education
([email protected])
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Special Interest Projects (SIPs)
• Reducing Youth Exposure to Alcohol Marketing
([email protected])
• Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and
Evaluation Network ([email protected])
• Workplace Health Research Network
([email protected])
• Physical Activity Policy and Evaluation
Research Network Plus ([email protected])
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Completed Projects
• Healthy Minds at Work ([email protected])
• Prevention in Churches ([email protected])
• Well-being of Adolescents in Vulnerable
Environments ([email protected])
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How to reach us
www.jhsph.edu/adolescenthealth
E4612
Phil Leaf – 410-955-3962
Beth Marshall 443-287-3008
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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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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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Prevention in Churches (PiC)
• 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 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
• Contact: Terri Williams ([email protected])