Family Health

ALMA’s mission is to help adults gain basic reading, writing, and math skills. ALMA creates innovative, educationally sound, and entertaining television-based teaching materials and cultivates community networks to support ALMA learners. TV411, ALMA’s magazine-format television series (with ancillary print materials and an instructional Web site) is aired on more than 100 stations nationwide.

Eyes on Bullying is a national, multimedia bullying prevention program designed to provide parents and caregivers with user-friendly and effective ways to learn the essential principles of bullying prevention. The multimedia program, initially developed for IBM employees, includes a 42-page Toolkit with key information, resources, and six skill-building activities for caregivers and parents to use with children.

EDC, with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, will collaborate with Latino parents, youth, and community agency staff on the development and dissemination of a Spanish-language version of the proven Saving Sex for Later intervention. This is an innovative, evidence-based, and user-friendly parent education program designed to promote healthy sexual and reproductive choices on the part of young adolescents. It consists of a set of three audio CDs and accompanying print brochure, which will be available in both English and Spanish.

This exploratory qualitative study asks: How do youth and their parents in high-poverty urban environments conceptualize, recognize, and respond to teen mental health problems? Building on over a decade of research conducted with New York City schools serving low-income families, this study uses a theoretically and empirically informed qualitative approach. Focus groups and in-depth interviews with parents and their adolescent sons and daughters are being conducted.

This rigorous three-arm randomized experiment tests whether an innovative multi-year parent-mediated HIV intervention, Preparing Our Sons and Daughters for Healthy Futures, reduces HIV risks among African American youth living in high-poverty urban neighborhoods. About 1500 families with 6th graders in New York City public schools are being enrolled and will be followed through 9th grade.

The MetroWest Youth Risk Behavior Survey is a ten-year initiative of the Massachusetts-based MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation to better understand and address the health needs of adolescents in the region. Surveys are being conducted biannually with middle and high school students. The first round of surveys was conducted in 2006, with over 16,000 high school students and 8,000 middle school students participating. Districts receive timely reports of their data along with technical assistance. Findings are used to identify problems, track trends, and inform local programming.

This technical assistance center serves 10 local communities working to reduce and prevent youth substance abuse by increasing understanding and practice of evidence-based strategies and collaboration between communities. Methods include monthly trainings, regional facilitation with community leaders, e-newsletters, a Web portal and local community coaching.