WestEd's Human Development Program

The problems of today's youth are beyond the capacity of individuals or even single institutions to address by themselves. Alcohol, tobacco and drug use; delinquency, gangs and violence; teen pregnancy and risky sexual behavior -- the inventory of behaviors that threaten the healthy development of our youth overwhelm our schools, families and communities. They don't have the information to understand the scope and nature of the problems, let alone what to do about them.

WestEd's Human Development Program (HDP) is helping to fill that information gap. The major focus of HDP work is increasing understanding of the factors that influence risky youth behaviors, improving the quality of prevention efforts, promoting positive development among all youth, and increasing the capacity of individuals to lead healthy, productive lives. How problem youth behaviors relate to school success or failure is a central question being explored. The Human Development Program is an integral part of WestEd's effort to improve the quality of education and youth development by helping practitioners and policymakers apply the best available knowledge from research and practice.

The lack of a link between research, evaluation and practice and between schools, families and community organizations has undermined the ability of many prevention programs to be effective. The multidisciplinary HDP team marshals the resources to address these complex problems. HDP staff conduct surveys and needs assessments, evaluate program effectiveness, develop demonstration projects, conduct technical assistance and training, and prepare and disseminate research summaries and prevention guidelines.

Needs Assessment and Survey Research

HDP is the foremost center of research on adolescent drug use and risky behaviors in California and one of the leading centers nationally for information about effective prevention strategies. Since 1989, HDP has conducted the biennial California Student Survey of Substance Use and Other Risky Behaviors, funded by the Office of the Attorney General. It provides the only longitudinal source of information about drug use among California youth. Two companion surveys have examined Substance Use and Other Risky Behaviors Among Chronic Absentees, School Dropouts, and Street Youth.

HDP is currently completing the first large-scale Survey of Drug use Among Adolescent Asians in California for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Evaluating Program Effectiveness

Major program evaluations include a three-year, statewide Evaluation of the Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education (DATE) Programs in California, and evaluations of Model Student Assistance Programs and Community Drug-Free Zone Projects. These helped to develop a generic models of effective programs. Through funding from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), HDP has conducted high-risk youth demonstration projects and evaluated community partnerships.

Prevention Through Service

Children and adolescents benefit directly from HDP's many service-oriented projects. One such program is the innovative federally-funded Special Kinships project in Los Angeles, an intervention for 8 to 11-year-old low-income, youth cared for out-of-home by relatives or foster caregivers. The project focuses on effective lifeskills training, positive alternative activities and community service activities for this rapidly growing, but frequently over-looked population.

Growing Up Well, also federally funded, demonstrated the effectiveness of a comprehensive partnership between a school district and the surrounding cities in preventing alcohol and other drug use among at-risk youth in the community of Redondo Beach; the five-year project was selected as one of 13 eligible to be replicated nationally. The Oakland Community Partnership, funded by the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, empowers residents of the community to take a more active role in bettering the community and reducing substance abuse. It has won three awards for excellence in service.

For 10 years, HDP was responsible for helping operate the Western Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities, providing technical assistance and training to California education and community-based agencies in their efforts to implement long-term alcohol and other drug use prevention programs.

Historical Perspective

HDP 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. Researchers with the Alcohol History Project examine the factors influencing alcohol consumption across time and geographic areas. Current studies funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism include a study of the history of alcohol use in America and consumption statistics since the Revolutionary War.

In the course of this work, WestEd has developed an extensive resource center of research and prevention literature on drug use, violence, and other risky behaviors. We have a library of over 10,000 documents cataloged in a searchable database that we draw upon extensively in designing studies and developing programs.

As the nation continues to focus on problem of drug use and violence among today's youth, and the need to improve school performance, HDP's research and prevention programs take on increasing significance. HDP staff strive not just to study the problem, but to be part of the solution.

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