MINNESOTA
DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH
IN THIS
ISSUE...
Adolescent Heath E News
F E B R U A R Y
•
DATA: MN 2008
Drug Trends Report, page 1
•
LEGISLATION:
Expedited Partner
Therapy for STDS,
page 1
•
•
•
RESEARCH:
Predictors of Civic
Engagement in
Young Adulthood,
page 2
LECTURE:
MySpace, Face
book, and Youth:
What Do Social
Network Sites
Have To Offer
Youth Development, Feb 23,
more info page 2
CONFERENCE:
Start Noticing! - A
symposium on the
tobacco industry's
ability to adapt,
survive, and thrive!,
Wednesday,
March 11, more
info. page 3
•
TRAINING: Dads
Make a Difference,
February 22-23,
more info., page 3
•
SCHOOL
HEALTH INDEX WORKSHOP, February
26, 2009, more
info., page 3
2 0 0 9
Minnesota’s 2008 Drug Trends Report
Meth treatment admissions
declined in 2008
Admissions to Twin Cities area
treatment programs for addiction
to methamphetamine (meth)
continued to decline in 2008,
according to a report on drug
abuse trends released today by
the Minnesota Department of
Human Services, Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Division. The report
is produced twice annually to
monitor emerging patterns and
trends in drug abuse and treatment.
Meth-related treatment admissions accounted for 5.5 percent
of total metro area treatment
admissions in the first half of
2008 compared with 12 percent
for the same period in 2005, the
year admissions were the highest.
Patients under the age of 18 accounted for 1.3 percent of methrelated treatment admissions in
the first half of 2008, compared
with 4 percent in the first half of
2007 and a high of 17.8 percent
in 2003.
"This is a continuation of a trend
that began in 2006 that reflects
fewer meth addicts in treatment,"
said Carol Falkowski, director of
the DHS Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Division and the report's
author. "Minnesota Student Survey data also reflected downward
trends in student use of meth in
2007. With continued community
awareness, law enforcement
pressure, prevention efforts and
treatment, let's hope we can
sustain this downward movement."
Addiction treatment programs
continued to treat more patients
for alcoholism than any other
drug disorder. In the first half of
2008, 52.1 percent of admissions
reported alcohol as the primary
substance problem. More metro
area hospital emergency room
ported incidents involving underage alcohol consumption than
those involving any single illicit
drug in the first half of 2008.
A copy of the report is available
on the DHS Web site <http://
www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/
groups/disabilities/documents/
pub/dhs16_144070.pdf> .
New Legislation
Expedited Partner Therapy
for STDs
In 2008 the Minnesota legislature
passed an amendment to a state
pharmacy statute that allows for
Expedited Partner Therapy or
EPT. This means that prescribing
medical professionals who diagnose a patient with chlamydia
and/or gonorrhea can give the
patient a prescription or the
actual medication to give to their
partner/partners to treat the
partners STD . This is part of a
national trend to remove some
of the barriers to partners being
treated for STDs in hopes that
the rate of transmission of chlamydia and gonorrhea can be
reduced. In response, the MDH
STD and HIV Section developed
and published on the MDH website the “Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Guidance for Medical
Providers”. http://
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/
idepc/dtopics/stds/ept/
EPTGuidance.pdf . Questions
about EPT and its implementation can be directed to Candy
Hadsall, RN, MA, the STD
Screening Specialist at MDH at
651-201-4015 or
[email protected] .
On January 13, 2009, Dr. Matthew Golden, one of the nation’s
leading researchers on EPT, presented a symposium on EPT to
medical providers in Minnesota.
This presentation can be viewed
by going to this page on the
MDH website: http://
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/
idepc/dtopics/stds/ept/
index.html .
PAGE
2
Research
From Adolescent Connections to
Social Capital: Predictors of
Civic Engagement in Young
Adulthood
Duke NN, Skay CL, Pettingell SL,
Borowsky IW. Journal of Adolescent
Health 2009: 44: 161-168
“Adolescents
need to be
surrounded by safe
places, challenging
experiences and
caring people to
develop in healthy
ways.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
Analysis of the National Longitudinal
Sutdy of adolescent Health found that
“stronger connection in all family and
community contexts during adolescence predicted greater likelihood of
voting, community volunteer service,
involvement in social action/solidarity
groups, education groups, and/or
conservation groups, and endorsement of civic trust in young adulthood. Select cojnnections in family
and community contexts were signifi-
cant predictors of political
voice/involvement and blood
product donation.”
The authors concluded that
“connections in family and
community contexts during
adolescence promote healthy
youth development through
facilitation of multiple aspects
of civic engagement in young
adulthood.”
Use of Inexpensive Technology to Enhance Adolescent Health Screening and
Counseling
cent Medicine. 2009; 163(2): 172177
Researchers used a personal
digital assistant (PDA) to assess
their adolescent patients’ risk
behaviors. The patients filled out
the screening questions on a
PDA before their appointment,
and the provider reviewed their
answers before the visit. Their
study tested the effectiveness of
this screening tool and found that
when used before a well visit, the
“PDA-based screening tool enhances physician counseling and
improves adolescents’ perceptions of the well visit.”
Olson AL, Gaffney CA, Hedberg VA, Gladston GR. Archives of Pediatric and Adoles-
Lecture Series
Inquiry to Impact Learning
Series event Feb 23,
2009: MySpace, Face
book, and Youth: What Do
Social Network Sites Have
To Offer Youth Development? This presentation will
focus on the role of social
networking in the lives of
youth--a topic of growing interest and importance for
youth and the adults who engage with them in a variety of
developmental and educational
settings.
be sharing research findings
and implications from her
work related to youth’s use of
social network sites. Special
attention will be given to youth
activities and relationships in
these online spaces. Her presentation will focus on emerging
research that looks in-depth at
youth activities, perceptions,
and experiences in online social network sites and considers their implications for the
field of youth development/
youth education.
Dr. Christine Greenhow, a Postdoctoral
Research Associate in
Learning Technologies
within the Department
of Curriculum and
Instruction at the University of Minnesota’s
College of Education
and Human Development, will
Please join us for what promises to be a uniquely informative opportunity to learn about
how social networking has
become an increasingly important influence in the lives of
youth, what adults should understand about how social
networking “works” and how
social networking can posi-
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tively contribute to development and learning.
Date: Monday February
23, 2009
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 11:30
a.m.
Place: Memorial Hall,
McNamara Alumni Center
To register for this event,
please visit the following website: https://
www.rews.extension.umn.edu/
rws3.pl?
form=christinegreenhow_even
t_registration
This event is sponsored by
University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development’s Applied Research
and Evaluation Collaborative
on Youth Development.
PAGE
3
Conferences
Start Noticing! - A
symposium on the tobacco industry's ability
to adapt, survive, and
thrive!
“As young
people navigate
the changes of
adolescence, it
is critical that
they receive the
guidance,
The MDH Office of Tobacco
Prevention and Control and
Wilder Research are cosponsoring Start Noticing! a
symposium on the tobacco
industry’s ability to adapt, survive, and thrive. It will be held
on Wednesday, March 11,
at the new Wilder Center.
Seating will be limited so register early to reserve a spot.
The forum, with keynote
speaker Alan Blum, MD, director of the Center for the Study
of Tobacco & Society at the
University of Alabama, will
challenge attendees to consider what it will take to keep
tobacco use going down. Research on tobacco advertising
in convenience stores, gas
stations, and other places frequented by teens will be presented. The Tobacco FreeCommunities grantees will talk
about how they are working to
counteract tobacco’s influence
on youth in their service areas. The research-based, action-oriented day is free and
open to the public, but registration is required.
The Wilder Center is located
at 451 Lexington Parkway
North, St. Paul, Minnesota
55104. Go to http://
www.wilder.org/index.php?
id=909 for program details and
on-line registration. This link
will go live on Monday, February 9. The event is free and
open to the public, but space is
limited. Questions, contact
Dianne Ploetz at 651-201-3664
or 888-345-0823 (for Minnesota callers outside the metro
area).
Teen Outreach Program
(TOP) – Facilitator Training
February 17-19, 2009
Center for Families
3333 North 4th Street, Minneapolis
The Teen Outreach Program
(TOP) is a nationally acclaimed,
science-based curriculum to prevent adolescent pregnancy and help
youth succeed in school. Designed
for youth ages 12 –19, TOP incorporates a strong service-learning
component based on principles of
youth development. TOP has been
successfully implemented in a variety of settings and with diverse
populations. In addition to the 2 ½
days of highly interactive training,
one participant from each agency
receives a copy of the TOP curriculum. For more information and to
register, contact Jocelyn Broyles at
651-644-1447 x19,
[email protected]. Registration
closes February 10, 2009.
support and
encouragement
that fosters
healthy
development.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
Trainings/ Workshops
DADS MAKE A DIFFERENCE TEEN TRAINING
SESSIONS: Do you work
with teens in a school, youthserving or faith-based organization? Make plans to bring
teens to the DMAD training
this February. Dads Make a
Difference is healthy
youth development,
parenting / fatherhood
education, and teen
pregnancy prevention.
High school-age teens,
male and female, teach
younger youth (grades
6-9) about the importance of fathers in chil-
ADOLESCENT
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dren’s lives, about the responsibilities of being a parent, and
about waiting to be a parent
until one is ready. The training
session will be held for 10th 12th grade male and female
teens accompanied by at least
one adult advisor. Details are
online here: http://
www.dadsmakeadifference.org/
MiddleTeenTraining.html or
contact
[email protected].
Twin Cities Metro Training
Sunday-Monday, February
22-23, 2009, 9:00am Sunday through 3:00pm Monday
Location: Radisson Hotel, Plymouth
$55 per participant, teen or
adult (scholarships may be
available upon request)
SCHOOL HEALTH INDEX WORKSHOP: Because of the large demand for
the January School Health
Index Workshop we have
added another on February
26, 2009 at the Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Cloud.
This training on assessment
will assist schools and their
community partners in preparing for the new state funded
initiative State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). See attachment for more information
PAGE
4
Grants
Adolescent Girls Health
Obesity
Mental Health
Hager Sharp, Inc
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation
U.S. Department of Justice
Deadline: February 26,
2009 (Brief Proposals)
This program creates a unique
opportunity for targeted community-based organizations to
address the critical needs of
domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking victims in a manner that
affirms a victim's culture and
effectively addresses language
and communication barriers.
Deadline: February 20,
2009 (LOI)
Hager Sharp, Inc. is pleased to
announce a Letter of Intent
Request for three community
coalitions to plan, implement
and evaluate pilot programs
designed to increase the number of adolescent girls and
their families who engage in
bone-healthy behaviors
through the modified BodyWorks program and community education activities of the
coalition’s choosing.
Info: http://
www.girlshealth.gov/bones/
pilot/pilot_welcome.html
“Investment in
health during
adolescence has
long-term
benefits.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent
Health Action
Plan
Immigrant/Refugee
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services Administration for Children
and Families
Deadline: February 24,
2009
The Department of Health and
Human Services Administration for Children and Families
is offering grants to connect
newcomer refugees and their
communities with community
resources. The objective of
this program is to strengthen
organized ethnic communities
comprised and representative
of refugee populations
to ensure ongoing
support and services
to refuges after initial
settlement.
Info: http://
www.acf.hhs.gov/
grants/open/HHS2008-ACF-ORR-RE0117.html
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Communities Creating Healthy
Environments is a national
program of the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation that aims
to prevent childhood obesity
by increasing access to healthy
foods and safe places to play in
communities of color. The
program will advance RWJF's
efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015
by supporting diverse, community-based organizations and
federally chartered tribal nations in the development and
implementation of effective,
culturally competent policy
initiatives that address childhood obesity at the local level.
Through this call for proposals,
RWJF will award grants for
policy advocacy designed to
improve food and recreation
environments in up to ten
communities at high risk for
obesity.
Info: http://www.rwjf.org/
applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?
ID=20602
Health Disparities
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services
Deadline: March 3, 2009
Funding is available for specific
events and activities designed
to reduce health disparities in
women and girls in the U.S.
Info: http://
www.womenshealth.gov/fund/
Deadline: March 4, 2009
Info: http://
www.ovw.usdoj.gov/docs/
fy09_culturally_and_linguistical
ly_specific_services_sol icitation.pdf
Physical Activity
U.S. Department of Education
Deadline: March 6, 2009
The Carol M. White Physical
Education Program provides
grants to initiate, expand or
enhance physical education
programs for students in kindergarten through the 12th
grade. After-school programs
are eligible for the award. This
program is seeking applicants
that work to improve and
maintain the physical well-being
of students, that enhance student’s physical, mental and
social development, and that
foster opportunities to develop
positive social and cooperative
skills through physical activity
participation.
Info: http://www.ed.gov/
programs/whitephysed/
index.html
For copies of any of the articles featured in this newsletter, please contact MDH’s Barr Library. The Barr
A Vision
forcollection
Healthy
Library
has a quality
of Adolescence:
public health books,
Minnesota Department of Health
Minnesota Department of Health
Jennifer O’Brien
Jennifer O’Brien
Adolescent Health Coordinator
Adolescent Health Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Health
Minnesota Department of Health
P.O. Box 64882
P.O. Box 64882
St Paul, MN 55164-0882
St Paul, MN 55164-0882
Phone: 651-201-3627
Phone:
651-201-3627
Fax:
651-201-3590
Fax: 651-201-3590
E-mail:
[email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
journals, and videos. The library provides lending, refOur responsibility as the community of Minnesota
erence, interlibrary loan, and other services to Minneis to support and guide Minnesota youth in the
sota Department of Health staff, local tribal, county,
healthy development of being, belonging and beor city public health professionals, school health praccoming. This requires a focus on wholeness and
titioners, and employees of both the Minnesota Board
wellness, and seeing Minnesota youth as “at
of Nursing and the Minnesota Department of Human
promise” rather than “at risk”.
Services. The Barr Library also provides interlibrary
loan services to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture:
For more information on Minnesota’s [email protected]
or 651-201-5090
cent Health Action Plan, contact
Jennifer
O’Brien or go to the Adolescent Health Gate-
http://www.health.state.mn.us/youth/
http://www.health.state.mn.us/youth/
Grants continued:
Community Health
The CIGNA Foundation
Deadline: Rolling
The CIGNA Foundation makes Targeted Grants to organizations working in five core concern areas. These
areas are, (1) the health of women,
children and families, (2) obesity
awareness and prevention, (3) patient/doctor communications and
health literacy, (4) elimination of gender and ethnic disparities in health
care, and (5) the connection between
a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Info: http://www.cigna.com/about_us/
community/
grant_application_checklist.html
way page.