MINNESOTA
DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH
DID YOU
Adolescent Health E News
KNOW?
M A R C H
•
•
Research on positive youth
development
(page 1)
Parents’ perspectives on talking
with preadolescent
children about sex.
(page 1)
A Review of Positive Youth Development Research
•
Programs that
work for older
youth
(page 2)
The Journal of Adolescent Health
released a supplemental issue
this month that provides a compilation of existing evidence on
positive youth development, and
its use as a strategy to promote
adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
•
Spotlighting Positive Youth Development initiative in
Minnesota! (page
2)
Four papers in this issue summarize observational research
findings and one paper summarizes the intervention research
on positive youth development.
•
Global Youth
Service Day
(page 2)
•
MOAPPP 19th
Annual Conference
(page 3)
•
New evidencebased resource
center by Healthy
Teen Network
(page 4)
•
•
New State Data
Center by the
Guttmacher Institute (page 4)
If you want to
subscribe to this
newsletter, please
email support@govdelivery.
com or go to the
following website:
http://
www.health.state.
mn.us/youth/
newsletters.html
2 0 1 0
A fifth article by Richard Catanlo and colleagues describes
research and program actions
that will best move the field
forward. When identifying fu-
ture priorities, the authors highlight the role positive youth
development programs can
serve in promoting adolescent
sexual and reproductive health,
but also call for an expanded
focus of these programs to include other benefits, such as
academic achievement and reduced levels of substance use
and violence.
In the editorial of the issue,
Authors Lorrie Gavin, Richard
Catalano, and Christine Markham conclude that there is compelling observational and controlled trial evidence that youth
development programs can help
youth develop the motivation,
skills and confidence needed to
make healthy decisions. They
also state that “ By combining
youth development approaches
with the provision of accurate,
age-appropriate, and evidencebased sex education, as well as
access to clinical reproductive
health services, the nation is far
more likely to achieve and sustain a high degree of sexual and
reproductive health among its
youth.”
Journal of Adolescent Health,
Volume 46, Issue 3, March 2010,
pgs S1-S6
Parent’s Perspectives on Talking to Preadolescents about Sex
An article in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive
Health examined parents’ perspectives on communicating with
preadolescent children about
sex.
The authors conducted 16 focus
groups with 131 mothers and
fathers of children aged 10-12 in
three cities in different regions of
the united States. Core themes
and patterns were then identified
among the participants.
The authors found four themes
throughout the focus group discussions: perceived threat of
sex-related issues, perceived
benefits of talking about sex,
perceived barriers of talking
about sex, and facilitators of
communication on sex.
to protect them from potential
negative consequences of sex,
including sexually transmitted
diseases and pregnancy.
Most parents thought it was
important to talk to their children about sex and believed that
doing so can be effective. However, many parents had not
talked with their children about
sex yet. Primary barriers were
parents’ perception that their
children were too young and not
knowing how to talk to their
children about the subject matter. One of the main motivations cited among parents to talk
about sex with their children was
Parents found it easiest to talk to
their children about sex if there
was a good parent-child relationship, took advantage of opportunities to talk and began having
the discussions when the children were very young.
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Volume 42,
Issue 1, March 2010, pgs 56-63
PAGE
2
Programs that work for Older Youth
“Older youth face a unique
set of challenges and risks as
they move into adulthood. It is
important to identify intervention strategies that can enhance the development and
success of these individuals in
domains such as employment,
independent living, drug and
alcohol use, pregnancy, parenting, life skills, mental health,
release from the foster care
system, homelessness, violence, education, and literacy.”
What Works for Older Youth
During the Transition to
Adulthood, a new Child
Trends fact sheet, examines
the role that programs for
older youth can play in promoting positive development
and self-sufficiency in adulthood.
This fact sheet reviewed experimental evaluations of these
programs that aimed to improve outcomes for older
youth (18 to 25)
and providing child care
for young parents are
associated with program
success across youth
outcomes.”
•
Among the findings:
•
•
“Education and career
programs can be effective,
especially for low-income
youth and for youth targeted at younger ages.”
“Specific intervention
strategies, such as mentoring, case management,
“Substance use and reproductive health programs have not consistently shown to be affective for this age group.”
To find out more about the
programs and their outcomes,
go to: http://
www.childtrends.org/Files//
Child_Trends2010_03_09_FS_WWOlderY
outh.pdf
“Adolescents
need to be
surrounded by safe
places, challenging
experiences and
caring people to
develop in healthy
ways.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
Spotlighting Positive Youth Development
The theme of this month’s
newsletter is positive youth
development. Here is an example of how the principals of
positive youth development
are applied to statewide work
at the Minnesota Department
of Health and other statewide
agencies.
The Minnesota Departments
of Health, Education, Public
Safety, Human Services, along
with Youth Community Connections and University
of Minnesota Extension
received a year long
technical assistance
grant from the National
4-H Council to focus on
promoting positive
youth development, an
initiative called
“Spotlighting Positive
Youth Development”. This
initiative is a CDC –DASH
funded partnership between
ADOLESCENT
HEALTH
E
NEWS
the National 4-H Council and
the University of Arizona.
The Minnesota team was selected along with the following
states in a competitive grant
process: Colorado, New
Mexico, Pennsylvania, Kansas
and Louisiana. Our Minnesota
team is exploring a shared
definition of positive youth
development, as well as finding
ways to incorporate youth
voice and participation into
our statewide positive youth
development work. In the long
term, our team is looking for
ways to build a stronger policy
platform for and with youth
people that incorporates a
youth development framework
and builds collaboration across
state agencies and state government.
Here is a sampling of some of
our short and long term goals:
•
Identify measures for
positive youth development outcomes
•
Incorporate positive
youth development principals into publications,
grant applications, reports, policies, and program development.
•
Consider a youth advisory group that informs
decision-making processes
•
Promote evidence-based
positive youth development practices and programs.
For more information, contact
Jennifer O’Brien, Minnesota’s
state adolescent health coordinator:
[email protected]
PAGE
3
Upcoming Events
Global Youth Service Day
www.mnyouth.net
Sunday, April 25 2010
1:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m.
MOAPPP 19th Annual
Conference
Mall of America, Best Buy
Rotunda
“As young
people navigate
the changes of
adolescence, it is
critical that they
May 6 - 7, 2010
Global Youth Service Day
(GYSD) is an annual campaign
that celebrates and mobilizes
millions of children and youth
who improve their communities each day of the year
through service and servicelearning. It is the largest service event in the world, and is
celebrated in over 100 countries.
GYSD also includes: On-site
youth service projects, entertainment featuring local Minneapolis bands, youth performances and prizes!
For more information visit
www.gysd.org or
Earl Brown Heritage Center,
Brooklyn Center, MN
As you know, MOAPPP’s annual conference is Minnesota’s
most comprehensive training
event covering current research, educational resources,
policy initiatives and emerging
issues related to adolescent
sexual health, pregnancy prevention and support for adolescent parents. It provides
participants with accurate, upto-the-minute information and
skill-building workshops as
well as inspiration and motivation.
presentations, exhibits, networking
opportunities, entertainment and
more is especially impressive.
Online registration for the annual
conference is now available!
MOAPPP accepts registrations by
fax and U.S. Mail as well. Click here
to download the conference brochure (PDF).
For more information, please contact the conference team: Sally
Mandler, Training Coordinator at
[email protected] or Charissa
Osborn, Operations Manager at
[email protected],
651.644.1447 or 1.800.657.3697.
Early registration deadline is Friday,
April 16th.
This year’s lineup of speakers,
receive the
guidance, support
Save the Date
and
encouragement
that fosters
healthy
development.”
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
2010 Summer Institute in Adolescent Health: Positive Pathways to Prevent Youth Violence
opportunities.
the screen.
• Shifting away from a culture
of violence.
Attendees will gather perspectives from young people who
teach at the institute, leaders
in community peace-making
efforts. The goal? Diffusion of
“what works” into grassroots
July 26-28 2010
• Intervening at the first sign of
risk.
July 28, 2010 (graduate students only)
• Redirecting those on a violent path.
St. Paul, Minnesota
During the institute, strategies
will be considered that lay
between zero tolerance and
complete indifference.
The 2010 Summer Institute in
Adolescent Health will
examine the pathways
to prevent violence
using a public health
lens. Grounded in the
evidence, four priorities
frame the
institute agenda:
• Connecting young
people with adult supports and
ADOLESCENT
HEALTH
E
NEWS
Join to explore means for restorative justice instead of
suspension, build a toolbox for
supporting effective parenting
skills, and delve into the impact
of policies that limit access to
fire arms and unhealthy exposure to violence on
efforts and policies that, together, create positive pathways for preventing youth
violence.
For more information contact:
Jenna Baumgartner at
[email protected] or 612626-0606. Graduate credit
and contact hours available
PAGE
4
Resources
Healthy Teen Network
launches new evidence
based resource center
With more than $100 million
federal dollars coming out this
fiscal year for the implementation of evidence-based or innovative approaches to prevent
teen pregnancy, Healthy Teen
Network has created a new
evidence-based research center
to help organizations prepare
successful applications.
Healthy Teen Network can
supports organizations in three
ways: Training in evidencebased programs for trainers
and facilitators; Technical assistance on program selection,
adolescences has
long-term
benefits.”
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation - Public Health
Law Research: Making the
Case for Laws That Improve Health
Deadline: April 14, 2010
-Minnesota’s
Adolescent Health
Action Plan
Visit the resource center at
http://healthyteennetwork.org/
Guttmacher Institute
Launches New State Data
Center
The State Data Center is a new
tool that allows researchers,
advocates, policymakers and
others working on reproductive
health issues at the national or
state level to build, download
and print custom tables, graphs,
and maps of the most current
Grants
“Investment in
health during
implementation, teaching methods, evaluation, and sustainability; and resources for all aspects of evidence-based programs and promising/innovative
programs.
The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation (RWJF) seeks to
build evidence for and
strengthen the use of regulatory, legal and policy solutions
to improve public health.
RWJF is also interested in
identifying and amending laws
and legal practices that
unintentionally harm
health. Through the
Public Health Law
Research: Making the
Case for Laws That
Improve Health Grant,
RWJF seeks to build a
field of research and
practice in public
health law.
ADOLESCENT
HEALTH
E
NEWS
Up to $3.5 million will be
awarded to several applicants.
Preference will be given to
those applicant organizations
that are either public entities
or 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. The focus of the program is in the United States.
Please contact the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation for
more information and to apply
for this funding: http://
www.rwjf.org/applications/
solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=21022
information available. The available data include:
•
trends in teen pregnancy,
birth, abortion and miscarriage, by age and race/
ethnicity
•
Current data on women in
need of contractive services and services available
•
State policies relation to
abortion, contraception,
and minors’ access to
services
Visit the State Data Center at
http://www.guttmacher.org/
datacenter/
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/
way page.
To subscribe...
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,
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