Selected Projects
Selected Publications
Survey Instruments
School and Community Health Research
Contacts
| 
| 
Promoting the healthy development of our youth through the understanding and prevention of risky behaviors
Alcohol, tobacco and drug use; delinquency, gangs and violence; risky sexual behavior and teen pregnancy - the inventory of behaviors that threaten our youth overwhelms our schools, families and communities. If prevention efforts are to become effective, we need more information about the scope and nature of these behaviors, the factors that influence them and prevention strategies that work. Equally important, we need better communication and collaboration among schools, families and communities.
WestEd's Health and Human Development (HHD) helps address these needs through a program of research, development, evaluation and training. We serve children directly through service-oriented projects. Equally important, our work is aimed at enhancing the capacity of schools, parent groups and community organizations to mount effective programs for preventing problem behaviors among youth. The HHD team conducts surveys and needs assessments; evaluates program effectiveness; develops demonstration projects; conducts technical assistance and training; and prepares and disseminates research summaries and prevention guidelines.
Much HHD work has related to drug use and its prevention and to general health promotion. A major new initiative focuses specifically on the prevention of teen pregnancy and risky sexual behavior. As part of that initiative, we produce the quarterly PPFY Network (Pregnancy Prevention For Youth Newsletter).; have undertaken a study of AIDS-related risky behavior among school dropouts; and are evaluating numerous teen pregnancy prevention programs, several of them based on the Community-of-Caring model.
Recognizing that drug use and other risky youth behaviors are interrelated, HHD was instrumental in the State of California's decision to broaden the scope of its biennial student drug survey into a system that also monitors risky behaviors in general, including violence, delinquency, gang membership and school-related problems, for both in-school and out-of-school youth.
For an overview of our other work use the following links:
Assessing Problems. HHD regularly conducts surveys for local schools and school districts, counties and states. HHD staff have gained a national reputation for their survey research studies designed to assess the scope and nature of problem behaviors and the factors that influence them. These studies provide the data needed to guide the development of more effective prevention strategies and policies. In California, HHD has conducted the biennial California Student Survey since 1989; this survey provides the only longitudinal source of information about drug use among California youth in grades 7, 9 and 11. HHD staff are currently preparing a review of changes in drug use over the past 10 years in California. As a single behavioral monitoring process, the survey reduces the burden on schools participating in data collection, while providing cost effective, comprehensive information to the offices of the Attorney General, Alcohol and Drug Programs, Department of Education and Department of Health Services. These reports are published by the State and widely disseminated to schools, county drug and alcohol departments and state policymakers.
HHD is now undertaking a major new initiative, under funding from the California Department of Education, to conduct a statewide California Healthy Kids Survey. This project will assist all the state's school districts in conducting surveys of drug use, violence, and other risk behaviors and then assessing the findings. Results from each school district will be aggregated into a statewide database.
Out-of-School Youth. Two statewide companion surveys have examined risky behaviors, including AIDS-related sexual behaviors, among drop-outs, street youth and chronic absentees. This research focused on the role of drug use as a contributing factor to both dropping out and staying out of school. Results showed significantly higher rates of drug use and related problems among these three populations, underscoring the need to target interventions to these groups.
Ethnic Group Research. As part of WestEd's effort to understand the implications of the nation's increasingly diverse population on education and adolescent development, HHD has placed a major emphasis on assessing ethnic group differences in its research. HHD staff are nearing completion of the first large-scale survey of drug use among adolescent Asians in comparison with other ethnic groups. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this research extends a series of nationally-recognized assessments of current knowledge about drug use among the five major ethnic groups in America. That series was originally produced as part of the Prevention Research Update Series, published by the Western Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities.
Evaluating Program Effectiveness. HHD staff evaluators also assess the effectiveness of school- and community-based prevention and youth-service programs. For example, they conducted the most comprehensive statewide evaluation of school-based drug, alcohol and tobacco education programs in California. Among HHD's other large-scale studies were evaluations of the multi-site Community Drug-Free School Zones Project and the Model Student Assistance Program. Study results were used in developing a generic model of an effective program for statewide dissemination. HHD's evaluation research teams have also assessed the impact of teen pregnancy and parenting programs; the effects of distance learning on drug-free schools and communities' training initiatives; and the effectiveness of residential and day-treatment programs for pregnant and postpartum drug-using women and their infants. Two current projects evaluate the effectiveness of the resiliency-based Community-of-Caring program, developed by the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, on the prevention of teen pregnancy.
Prevention Through Service. Children and adolescents benefit directly from HHD's comprehensive service projects, many of them recognized nationally for their innovative approaches. The Special Kinships project in Los Angeles is an intervention for low-income youth cared for by relatives or foster caregivers, a rapidly growing and frequently over-looked population (over half of Los Angeles county youth are under some kind of informal or formal foster-care supervision). The project focuses on promoting positive development through effective lifeskills training, positive alternative activities and community service activities. It is the only program of its kind in the nation.
Similarly, Growing Up Well demonstrated the effectiveness of a comprehensive holistic approach to the prevention of risky behaviors among youth. The project aimed to effect systems and client level change via a program involving curricula, student assistance programs and a school/community/law partnership.
Another pioneering effort is the Doing It Right Project, a partnership between WestEd staff and residents of a housing complex to build leadership and team-building skills among housing residents, to develop strategies for residents to access drug treatment and other health and human services and to provide prevention and alternative activities that promote positive youth development and empowerment.
The Oakland Community Partnership empowers residents to take a more active role in bettering the community and links community and institutional support in new and different ways. Its specific areas of focus have included substance abuse prevention activities, youth development, multicultural education, empowerment and community mobilization activities, planning, technical assistance and facilitation.
Training and Technical Assistance. For 10 years as part of the Western Regional Center for Drug Free Schools and Communities, HHD staff provided free training and technical assistance in prevention and intervention strategies throughout California and Nevada. HHD gained a national reputation not only for the quality of its workshops, but also for its publications and information dissemination efforts that help people implement the most effective, research-based prevention strategies. In particular, staff played a leading role in promoting a resiliency-based approach to prevention. Staff also prepared a guide to the development of alternative activities programs for the US Department of Education. As part of the new California Healthy Kids Survey Project, HHD will be providing technical assistance in data collection and use to all of California's schools.
Taking a Multi-disciplinary Approach. HHD believes in maintaining a multidisciplinary perspective in the study of social and behavioral problems, including bringing the perspective of past developments to understanding current problems. As part of our efforts to understand the dynamics of drug use, several long-term projects have studied the history of drug use cross-culturally. Researchers with the Alcohol History Project are currently examining factors influencing alcohol consumption across time and geographic areas. Studies funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism focus on the history of alcohol use in America.
Selected Publications
- Rebuilding Schools as Safe Havens: A Typology for Selecting and IntegratingViolence Prevention Strategies.
Robert Linquanti & BethAnn Berliner of WestEd and the Western Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities,1994.
37 pages
Describes 20 distinct violence prevention strategies along a three-part continuum: responding to emergency, moving away from crisis and preparing for the future. Proposes questions for assessing current school policy and practice and for putting together a comprehensive safety strategy, and provides regional contacts.
WC-94-01 $7.50
Fostering Resiliency in Kids: ProtectiveFactors in the Family, School and Community.
Bonnie Benard of WestEd and the Western Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities, 1991.
27 pages.
Every teacher knows the special student who overcomes the hazards of a risk-filled environment - poverty, violence, drugs - to become a healthy, competent young adult. Such resiliency can be fostered in school by looking beyond the deficits of a child's life to capitalize on strengths. This research synthesis discusses how.
WC-91-01 $6
Fifth Biennial Statewide Survey of Drug and Alcohol Use Among California Students in Grades 7, 9, and 11 (Winter 1993-94)Gregory Austin & Rodney Skager, 1996
100 pages.
Report to California Attorney General Daniel E. Lungrennbsp
Summary of results from survey of substance use and other risky behaviors among 5,655 students enrolled in 100 public schools. Covers drug use prevalence and trends since 1985; patterns, consequences and attitudes; and exposure to prevention programs.
Free. To order, call the Office of the Attorney General, Crime Prevention Center, 916-324-7863
Guide to Tobacco Use Prevention Among California Youth (3 Volumes)
Gregory Austin & Jill English, 1995. Prepared for the California Department of Education
Three-volume series answering basic questions about tobacco use among California adolescents and providing recommendations for better combating it. Volume 1, The Need for Action (64 pages), reviews current research findings. Volume 2, Promising Strategies for School-Based Programs (40 pages), summarizes best knowledge about the most effective tobacco prevention strategies. Volume 3, Targeting Special Populations: Gender, Ethnicity, and Dropout Status (64 pages), provides a more specific examination of current knowledge about tobacco use and its prevention.
Free. To order, call the California Department of Education, Healthy Kids, Healthy California Office, 916-657-2810
Selected Projects
Contacts
Greg Austin
Program Director
562-799-5155
gaustin@WestEd.org
|
