MINNESOTA
DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH
DID YOU
KNOW?
Adolescent Heath E News
A U G U S T
•
Impact of Drug
Prevention on
Risky Sexual Behavior (page 1)
•
2009 State– by
State Teen Dating
Violence Report
Card, 2009 (page
1)
•
School Dropout
Prevention (page 1)
•
ThatsNotCool.com
(page 1)
•
Preventing Pregnancy among
Youth in Foster
Care: Remarks for
Congressional
Roundtable (page
2)
•
35th Annual Program Sharing Minnesota’s ATOD
Prevention Conference (page 3)
•
2009 Youth Intervention Conference (page 3)
•
“Running on
Empty”, a play on
eating disorders
(page 3)
See last page for
details on how to
sign up for this newsletter
2 0 0 9
Impact of Drug Prevention on Risky Sexual Behavior
A study by Phyllis Ellickson and
colleagues from the RAND Corporation found that a school
based drug prevention program
called Project ALERT seemed to
reduce risky sexual behavior five
to seven years after program
exposure. The authors wanted
to see if there was any evidence
of a spillover effect of a drug
prevention program on sexual
behavior.
Project ALERT focuses on adolescent drug use and can be as
short as 14 lessons in middle
school, or as long as 24 lesson,
which include 10 additional lessons in high school.
The authors looked at survey
data from a randomized controlled experiment in 55 schools
in South Dakota.
pro-drug pressures.” Participants
were encouraged to see the links
between other risky behaviors
including risky sexual behavior.
“The lessons focus on three
major goals each of which is
linked to a specific theory of
behavior change: (1) helping
youth understand the benefits of
nonuse, as well as the seriousness and salience of consequences associated with drug
use; (2) reducing barriers to
effective drug resistance by building confidence in one’s ability to
resist pro-drug pressures; and
(3) building social norms against
use and the skills for resisting
The authors conclude:
“Compared to controls, Project
ALERT reduced the likelihood of
all risky sex outcomes except
inconsistent condom use among
these sexually active young
adults.”
Ellickson PL, McCaffrey DF, Klein
DJ. Long-term effects of drug prevention on risky sexual behavior
among young adults. Journal of
Adolescent Health 2009; 45:111117.
Other Resources
(Thanks to e-adolescence, and the
State Adolescent Health Resource
Center for the following links.)
School Dropout Prevention- A
Public Health Role for Primary
Healthcare Providers, 2009
2009 State-by-State Teen Dating
Violence Report Card, 2009
Break the Cycle
http://www.breakthecycle.org/
resources-state-law-report-cards2009.html
Break the Cycle, a leading non profit
teen dating violence prevention organization, announced the results of a
report that grades each state’s laws on
their ability to protect victims of teen
dating violence seeking protection
orders against their abusers. Only a
handful of states have responded to
teen dating violence with laws enabling
the youthful victims to obtain protection orders on equal terms with adults.
The School Mental Health Project,
Dept. of Psychology, University of
California-Los Angeles
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/
publications/
schooldropoutprevention.pdf
Recent reports indicate that about a
half million young people drop out of
high school each year. Pediatric and
adolescent primary healthcare providers help families by responding to
learning, behavior and emotional
problems. This article highlights the
important role and tools available for
public health practitioners to support
dropout prevention as a public health
strategy.
ThatsNotCool.com, 2009
Co-sponsored by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Office
on Violence Against Women
(USDOJ) and the Ad Council
http://www.thatsnotcool.com/
“That’s Not Cool” is a multimedia
campaign that includes an interactive web site, mobile component,
television, radio, posters in schools
and malls, and Web ads all designed to help teens recognize
digital dating abuse and give them
the platform to initiate conversations about it.
PAGE
2
Policy
Preventing Pregnancy among
Youth in Foster Care: Remarks
for Congressional Roundtable
Amy Dworsky, 2009
From Chapin Hall, www.chapinhall.org
“On July 16, 2009, Senator Mary
Landrieu (D-LA) moderated a Congressional roundtable discussion,
‘Preventing Teen Pregnancy and Promoting Healthy Relationships Among
Youth in Foster Care.’
“Adolescents
need to be
surrounded by safe
places, challenging
experiences and
caring people to
develop in healthy
ways.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
Senior Researcher Amy Dworsky
presented research from Chapin
Hall’s longitudinal study, The Midwest
Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of
Foster Youth, which finds that by age
19, nearly one-half of young women
had been pregnant, and nearly one
third had given birth. Her remarks included a discussion of
why foster youth are a highrisk population when it comes
to teen pregnancy and tooearly parenthood, and the
relevance of the Fostering
Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of
2008 to pregnancy prevention.
The program was organized by
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption
Institute, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and
Unplanned Pregnancy, and the
National Foster Care Coalition, which announced at the
roundtable the formation of a
new working group on teen
pregnancy and foster care. The
group will provide recommendations to the Obama administration and Congress on solutions
to help reduce the disproportionately high teen pregnancy
rate among youth in and aging
out of foster care.”
For the full report, go here:
http://www.chapinhall.org/sites/
default/files/
DworskyFosterPregnancy-7-1609.pdf
Policy Resource
The Society for Adolescent
Medicine (SAM) recent published a press release explaining their stance on health care
reform as it pertains to adolescents. Here are their five principles of health care reform for
adolescents:
“1. Assure financial access to
services both through health
insurance coverage that
reaches all adolescents and
through publicly funded safety
net programs that provide
special services to adolescents
or reach special populations of
young people.
2. Establish a comprehensive benefit package that includes services for prevention,
screening, diagnosis,
and treatment of the
full range of acute and
chronic physical, mental, and behavioral health con-
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cerns and conditions that affect
adolescents.
3. Help clinicians provide high
quality care to adolescents by
supporting adolescent focused
education and training programs for health care professionals to expand the workforce prepared to serve adolescents; establishing reimbursement policies that provide adequate payment to a
wide range of clinicians and
include incentives to promote
high quality, cost effective care;
and establishing reimbursement policies that support
delivery of services in diverse
settings.
4. Ensure that confidentiality
protections are in place for
adolescents’ communications
with health care professionals
and health care records, including electronic records, to
help adolescents receive opti-
mal care and learn to
function independently in the
health care system.
5. Address the needs of special
populations of adolescents and
young adults along with the
general needs of adolescents,
younger children, and adults.
These groups include youths in
public systems of care such as
foster care and juvenile justice,
homeless and runaway youths,
pregnant and parenting teens,
immigrant and migrant youth,
youth from diverse racial and
ethnic groups, sexual minority
youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and questioning
youth), and youth with chronic
physical and mental health
conditions or disabilities.”
Go to SAM’s website for more
information:
www.adolescenthealth.org
PAGE
3
Conferences/Trainings
35th Annual Program
Sharing Minnesota’s
ATOD Prevention Conference
about ATOD prevention
methods to increase their
effectiveness and that of their
programs.
October 8-9, 2009
Visit this website often for
announcements of additional
speakers, session topics and
tracks, exhibits and other aspects of the conference.
St Cloud Civic Center
“As young
people navigate
the changes of
adolescence, it is
critical that they
receive the
guidance,
support and
encouragement
that fosters
healthy
development.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
Program Sharing is Minnesota's
premier conference showcasing effective prevention programs, practices and strategies
around the issues of alcohol,
tobacco, other drugs and related violence (ATOD). This
conference highlights evidencebased prevention principles in
the domains of planning and
evaluation, education and skill
development, community organization, public and organizational policy and professional
growth and responsibility.
Program Sharing is a two-day,
statewide conference that
provides opportunities for
prevention practitioners and
those interested in learning
Program Sharing is a statewide
conference sharing evidencebased prevention practices,
strategies, and information
about successful programs and
approaches for preventing the
problems associated with alcohol, tobacco, other drugs
(ATOD) and related violence.
For more information go to:
http://www.emprc.org/ps2009/
2009 Youth Intervention Conference
October 27-28, 2009
U. OF MN CONTINUING EDUCACONFERENCE CENTER, ST
PAUL, MN
TION AND
The 2009 Youth Intervention Conference will bring together youth
service professionals for 25+ breakout sessions, keynote addresses
from nationally known experts in
various youth intervention fields, a
resource and program-sharing exhibitors hall and intimate round
table lunch conversations.
To REGISTER Go to Online Registration or Print a Registration
Form:
http://www.mnyipa.org/control.php?
&topgroupname=&groupname=edu
cation&subgroupname=&contentna
me=FA09
Opportunities
Park Nicollet Melrose Institute is pleased
to present the premiere
of “Running on Empty”,
causes, and myths of eating
disorders into an engaging and
powerful experience that will
inspire K-12 audiences to:
an original play about eating
disorders, at the acclaimed
Guthrie Theater in downtown
Minneapolis. This is a special, live
event not to be missed.
•• Recognize the prevalence of
eating disorders in everyday life.
September 12, 2009, 4:00 –
5:00 p.m. at the acclaimed
Guthrie Theatre, Dowling
Studio, in downtown Minneapolis.
The show is intended to
transform the facts, statistic,
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NEWS
and all exhibit eating disorder
symptoms. We really feel that
this will be a good tool for the
educator to address this topic in
an interactive format.
•• Understand and respect the
clinical nature of eating disorders.
For more information on how
to get tickets, contact:
•• Become ready to learn more
and take action with regard to
eating disorders prevention.
Manager Business Development
& Community Relations
The play involves three teens
who are grappling with the emotions, behaviors and issues that
are so prevalent in those high
school and early college years
Shannon McCartney-Simper
Park Nicollet Melrose Institute
[email protected]
952-993-6475 (o)
952-231-2446 (p)
PAGE
4
Grants
Advocates for Youth –
Youth of Color Initiative
“Investment in
health during
adolescence has
long-term
benefits.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent
Health Action
Plan
The Advocates for Youth
has established the Youth
of Color Initiative to prevent HIV/STI infection
among young African
Americans, Latinos, Asian
and Pacific Islanders, and
Native Americans. The goal
of the Initiative is to build
the capacity of communitybased, minority, youthserving organizations and
institutions to provide science-based and culturally
relevant HIV prevention
programming.
Selected applicants may
receive strategic capacity
building assistance, including publications and materials, written and electronic
correspondence, on-site
training, and seed grants in
the amount of $8,000 to
implement HIV/STI and
teen pregnancy prevention
projects. Eligible applicants
include 501(c)(3) youthserving, community-based,
minority organization, and
historically black colleges
or universities.
Deadline: August 14, 2009
Please contact the Advocates for Youth : http://
www.advocatesforyouth.or
g/index.php?
option=com_content&task=vi
ew&id=742&Itemid=45
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HEATH
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Ronald McDonald
House Charities - Improving the Health of
Children
Ronald McDonald House
Charities is accepting applications for its Children’s
Health Grant program to
support projects that directly improve the health
and well-being of children
and youth (ages 0-21), address a significant funding
gap or critical opportunity,
have a potential long-term
impact, and produces measurable results.
Award amounts vary. Eligible applicants include 501
(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations.
Deadline: September 4,
2009
Please contact Ronald
McDonald House Charities:
http://rmhc.org/what-wedo/grants/how-to-apply
Straight Talk on Preventing HIV Program
U.S. Department of Health
and Health and Human
Services - Straight Talk on
Preventing HIV Program
The purpose of the Straight
Talk on Prevention HIV
program is to develop gender/age-specific HIV/AIDS
prevention education that
is culturally and spiritually
appropriate for female
teenagers at-risk or living
with HIV/AIDS. The aim of
this program is to teach
sexual health as an integral
part of health and to teach
female members of a family
that a healthy life includes
physical, emotional, and
sexual health.
Award amount is approximately $1,200,000 of fiscal
year funds to support six
cooperative agreement
awards. These awards will
be funded in annual budget
increments of $200,000 and
may be approved for a project of 12 months to 5
years. Eligible grant applicants include public and
private non-profit organizations, community-based
organizations, faith-based
organizations, national organizations, colleges and
universities, clinics and hospitals, State and local government agencies, tribal
government agencies and
tribal/urban Indian organizations.
Deadline: August 15, 2009
Please contact the U.S. Department of Health and
Health and Human Services
https://
www.grantsolutions.gov/gs/
preaward/
previewPublicAnnouncement.do?id=10494
A Vision for Healthy Adolescence:
Our responsibility as the community of Minnesota
Minnesota Department of Health
Jennifer O’Brien
Adolescent Health Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Health
P.O. Box 64882
is to support and guide Minnesota youth in the
healthy development of being, belonging and becoming. This requires a focus on wholeness and
wellness, and seeing Minnesota youth as “at
promise” rather than “at risk”.
St Paul, MN 55164-0882
Phone: 651-201-3627
Fax: 651-201-3590
E-mail: [email protected]
For more information on Minnesota’s Adolescent Health Action Plan, contact Jennifer
O’Brien or go to the Adolescent Health Gate-
http://www.health.state.mn.us/youth/
If you want to subscribe to
this newsletter, please email
[email protected]
or go to the following website: http://
www.health.state.mn.us/
youth/newsletters.html
For copies of any of the articles featured in this newsletter, please contact
MDH’s Barr Library. The
Barr Library has a quality
collection of public health
books, journals, and videos.
The library provides lending, reference, interlibrary
loan, and other services to
Minnesota Department of
Health staff, local tribal,
way page.
county, or city public health
professionals, school health
practitioners, and employees of both the Minnesota
Board of Nursing and the
Minnesota Department of
Human Services. The Barr
Library also provides interlibrary loan services to the
Minnesota Department of
Agriculture:
[email protected]
or 651-201-5090