Initiatives
Initiatives
KDHRC's initiatives are informative, compelling, and varied. They provide KDHRC with the foundation to achieve its mission to produce and disseminate creative, objective, and timely information to improve the health and well-being of the nation's youth, families, and communities. KDHRC's initiatives are funded by the National Institutes of Health and other agencies and organizations.
Select from the list below to view initiatives in KDHRC's four program areas.
- Drug Abuse Education and Prevention
- Health and Science Literacy
- Vulnerable Populations
- Organizational Studies
Drug Abuse Education and Prevention
Current Initiatives
Mind Over Matter: Updating NIDA Science Education Materials
Under a contract from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), KDHRC will expand the Mind Over Matter science education materials. NIDA has developed numerous science education tools that it distributes at no cost to the public to improve science education and literacy in the U.S. Mind Over Matter is a crucial part of its outreach arsenal. Developed nearly 10 years ago, the original Mind Over Matter series targeted students in grades 5 through 9 and consisted of eight full-color, four-page magazines, each on a different illicit drug: steroids, opiates, nicotine, methamphetamine, marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, and stimulants. Mind Over Matter has been reprinted numerous times, and millions of copies have been distributed at no cost to schools in the U.S. KDHRC is expanding the materials to include a Mind Over Matter magazine on prescription drugs for middle school students and constructing a Mind Over Matter interactive website for high school students, which will be integrated into the NIDA for Teens website.
National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign
KDHRC is a core contributor to the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign (NYADMC). One of the largest social marketing efforts of its kind, the NYADMC is led by The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under congressional mandate.The campaign uses mass media and other public communications to reach youth ages nine through 18 with information about drugs of abuse, specifically marijuana.The goal of the campaign is to decrease youth drug use by 25 percent over the next five years.
Under subcontract from Draftfcb, KDHRC provides expertise in behavior change, social marketing, and substance abuse prevention for strategic planning of the campaign and development of related social marketing materials. In particular, KDHRC manages and contributes to the Media Campaign Advisory Team, a vast, multidisciplinary group of external experts that reviews advertising concepts, research strategies and instruments, and related reports for scientific soundness, defendability, and relevance to the target audience.
POP-D: Preventing Over-the-Counter and Prescription Drug Abuse
To address the emerging public health problem of teen prescription drug abuse, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) granted KDHRC a project entitled Preventing Over-the-Counter and Prescription Drug Abuse (POP-D). Recent national surveys indicate that teen prescription drug abuse is increasing. In fact, 9 percent of all high school students report abuse of a prescription drug, and prescription drugs are the most commonly used drug among 12 and 13 year olds.
In this project, KDHRC is constructing and evaluating a comprehensive kit for schools to implement a science education program on prescription and over-the-counter drugs. POP-D will contain a print curriculum/Teachers' Guide, student materials/CD-ROM, and parent education/outreach materials. We will evaluate the materials for their effectiveness in a two-group, controlled design, examining knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and drug use as our outcome measures. Not only do we anticipate that the kit will be useful for schools, teens, and parents, but the multifold evaluation will yield substantial primary data that will allow us to continue to contribute to the scientific literature on teen drug abuse.
Past Initiatives
Keys to Brain Power
KDHRC received funding to evaluate a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) sponsored curriculum product entitled Keys to Brain Power! This CD-ROM-based product features six modules of interactive games on the topic of drugs, how drugs change the brain and body, and how scientists study drugs. The goal of this curriculum is to increase interest in science, further NIDA’s science education goals, and provide information upon which students can make healthy, protective decisions about avoiding drug use. The target audience was 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students.
Using a mixed-methodological approach, KDHRC developed a comprehensive evaluation protocol that standardized curriculum implementation and data collection. We collected quantitative and qualitative data and analyzed them using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques.
The evaluation results provide limited support for the effectiveness of this educational product and specific suggestions for its improvement. NIDA distributed up to 30,000 copies of this CD-ROM and copies of the print curriculum Brain Power! in the United States.
Who Wants to be a NIDA Neuroscientist?
Who Wants to be a NIDA Neuroscientist? is a web-based quiz game designed to educate middle school students about the brain, science, and how drugs change the brain. KDHRC developed the game for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) as the cornerstone for its Brain Awareness Week outreach.
Brain Awareness Week is an international event organized by the Dana Alliance to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of neurological research. NIDA is strongly involved in this event and reaches out to students in the Washington, D.C. area with games and activities during this week.
KDHRC developed Who Wants to be a NIDA Neuroscientist? with extensive input from students in 5th through 8th grades. The game uses interactive Flash technology to engage students in information about the brain and the effect of drugs on the brain.
Health and Science Literacy
Current Initiatives
Attitude Boost: Improving Attitudes Toward Science
Attitude Boost is an innovative project to improve science literacy by boosting attitudes toward science in elementary and middle school. This project is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Science literacy can have significant personal and societal value, because it can empower youth to think critically, understand, and apply scientific findings in their daily lives. Unfortunately, students in the U.S. perform significantly lower on science achievement tests than many of their peers internationally, and only 17 percent of adults in the U.S. can be considered scientifically literate.
Produced as multimedia materials for youth and an associated teacher implementation guide, Attitude Boost will increase enjoyment of science subjects, provide teachers with a time-efficient and effective way to increase student engagement in and performance on science subjects, and contribute to a scientifically literate society that can actively process and apply scientific information in everyday tasks. Attitude Boost will be evaluated in a two-step process that examines its ability to improve science attitudes and the degree to which attitude changes translate into high scientific achievement and literacy.
Genetics for Kids
Rapid scientific advancements have pushed society to consider the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetics and genomic research. Reaching students with engaging information about human genetic principles can help create a new generation with scientific literacy on a topic that may directly influence their personal decisions about health and well-being in the future.
To fill the need for this information, KDHRC is developing Genetics for Kids, a standards-based and developmentally appropriate curriculum to improve genetic literacy in middle school students. This curriculum for 7th and 8th grade students features multimedia and print components. The curriculum will provide scientific information on genetic principles and human genetic variation and discuss the legal, social, and ethical implications of this research. It will support teachers’ instruction on these topics by providing materials that are easy-to-implement and scientifically rigorous.
KDHRC will finalize the print and multimedia components of this curriculum and conduct a controlled study of its effectiveness in classrooms nationwide. Development and evaluation of Genetics for Kids is funded by the National Center on Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Vulnerable Populations
Current Initiatives
ASDNet: Supporting Caregivers of People with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Caregivers of people with chronic medical conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders, may be at high risk of poor physical and emotional outcomes. There is therefore a need for research to understand the unique stressors faced by these caregivers and for the development of customized interventions to provide support to them.
With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), KDHRC is constructing and evaluating ASDNet, a comprehensive, customizable web-based support system for caregivers of people with ASD. The website will: 1) provide information and resources to reduce the objective caregiving burden, 2) build skills in stress reduction and problem-focused coping to reduce the subjective burden of caregiving, and 3) create connections within a virtual ASD community to mitigate stress though social support. Evaluation of the project will examine the extent to which the website increases knowledge, increases coping, increases self-efficacy, and decreases stress.
CI School Toolkit: Helping Children with Cochlear Implants Enter Mainstream Classrooms
With funding from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), KDHRC is constructing the CI School Toolkit, a comprehensive set of materials that will help parents, teachers, and classmates of a child with a cochlear implant support learning.
A cochlear implant is an assistive technology for deaf people that replaces damaged or nonexistent hair cells in the cochlea of the ear with electrodes that stimulate the auditory nerve and allows the person to access sound. Cochlear implants benefit children particularly, and the number of children with them has grown rapidly as the age of implantation has inched younger over time.
Most children with these devices can function successfully in a classroom with hearing peers if customized educational accommodations are established. But creating an optimal learning environment for a child with a cochlear implant can be daunting, and school entry can be an anxious and demanding time for parents and teachers alike.
The CI School Toolkit will support the school entry process. Once developed, the materials will be evaluated for effectiveness with parents, teachers, and classmates in a multi-stage research study.
Familias Fuertes/Strong Families: Helping Latino Families with a Child Coping with Cancer
With funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), KDHRC is developing Familias Fuertes, a culturally relevant outreach program to provide education and support for Latino families coping with two different health situations: Latino families with a child diagnosed with pediatric cancer, and Latino families with a child who has a parent, caregiver, or other close family member with cancer. Familias Fuertes will reach Latino families with practical and skill-building information to bridge the family to formalized medical systems of care, reduce the risk of negative medical outcomes, and also promote family communication about the disease to decrease distress and increase effective coping.
Familias Fuertes uses a promotora model to reduce institutional barriers due to limited English language proficiency, a lack of health insurance, immigration status, and other challenges. Community-based health organizations that provide direct service to Latinos for little or low cost will recruit and train promotoras (or lay health workers) using the Familias Fuertes training guide, a product that provides a blueprint for systematic, evidence-based training sessions and associated outreach tools like brochures, flipcharts, and flyers. These promotoras will then conduct outreach to Latino families with a child coping with cancer, reaching them at critical points in the cancer diagnosis, treatment, and coping process of its child. KDHRC will conclude the initiative with a large evaluation of Familias Fuertes's effectiveness.
Past Initiatives
Latino Outreach on Autism
National estimates suggest that as many as one in 150 children has autism. Early treatment can help these children function at their maximum potential, but on average, children from minority groups are diagnosed two to three years later than Caucasian children.
To address this disparity, KDHRC worked with the Organization for Autism Research to develop culturally specific communication tools to reach Latino families with information about developmental milestones and the warning signs of autism. We used a promotora model, in which lay health workers were trained to provide information on child development to families with young children during community health outreach programs. More specifically, KDHRC developed a 5-module promotora training program and associated outreach tools, including a bilingual presentation flip-book and parent brochure on a magnet, that provide information on developmental milestones from age zero to five.
KDHRC implemented and evaluated the training with 15 promotoras. In the first month of outreach following the training, local promotoras reached more than 500 families in Northwest Georgia with information on child development and autism. Future trainings are scheduled for Washington, D.C. and other cities in the U.S.
Organizational Studies
Current Initiatives
Atlanta Study: Understanding nonprofit organizations’ use of social marketing
In an era of decentralized health provision and managed care, community-based organizations have become key providers of health services, particularly to low-income residents. But recent public policy and economic changes have raised questions about the viability and sustainability of these organizations. To add clarity to this important public policy and public health issue, KDHRC has undertaken a large study of community-based health providers in the Atlanta metropolitan region to understand how these organizations have managed broad policy and environmental changes through the use of economic and programmatic means, advocacy, and social marketing. KDHRC will release the results of the study through working and academic papers and research briefs in 2009.