Schools are a critical setting for improving child nutrition and food security and preventing obesity in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture mandates that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--Education, known as CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL) in California, implements obesity prevention efforts that utilize…

Vietnamese Americans are disproportionately affected by preventable late-stage cancers. This study capitalizes on the protective role of family networks to develop an online social media family group chat intervention promoting cancer screening among Vietnamese American families. A feasibility study was conducted to assess implementing "Let's…

Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices. However, most students have limited access to school counselors. We study one of the largest U.S. policies to increase access to school counselors -- California's Supplemental School Counseling Program. The program increased the average…

California, which has some 2.8 million students on its public higher education campuses, is taking steps to reduce the gap between students' need for mental health treatment and their use of mental health services. Beginning in 2011, as part of a statewide initiative to improve mental health outcomes for all Californians, the California Mental…

One key objective of California's Statewide Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Student Mental Health (SMH) initiative funded under Proposition 63 was to establish a formal process for ongoing collaboration between higher education systems and county mental health, and to increase collaboration among higher education campuses to improve…

In California, the passage of Proposition 63 set aside funds for prevention and early intervention (PEI) and allowed for local and statewide activities. Recognizing the importance of including evidence-based PEI approaches into a comprehensive spectrum of care for mental disorders, the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA)--a…

This study explores the experiences of male college students who participated in a theatre-based, peer-education, sexual assault prevention presentation. The program was established through the use of Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Theatre of the Oppressed, as well as multicultural feminist theory and approaches. These models emphasize subverting…

Mental Health Problems among college and university students represent a significant public health issue in the United States. Mental disorders account for nearly one-half of the disease burden for young adults in the United States (World Health Organization, 2008), and most lifetime mental disorders have first onset by age 24 (Kessler et al.,…

The Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project, funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), is a community-specific strategy delivered through eight regional networks designed to address the full spectrum of community-based prevention. This article summarizes a strong and meaningful pattern of improvements…

Melanoma incidence is increasing among Hispanics/Latinos in California. This community-based project reached out to a rural Hispanic/Latino community in North San Diego County to provide melanoma prevention and screening education. At a local community health fair, bilingual volunteer lay health workers led 10- to 15-minute-long information…

Implementing violence prevention programs has become a priority for schools; however, most programs used for this purpose are limited in the skills they teach. In this study, two different resiliency building/violence prevention models were evaluated to assess their effectiveness at preventing violent and maladaptive behaviors in youth. Data from…

Introduction: Group-randomized trials (GRTs) are one of the most rigorous methods for evaluating the effectiveness of group-based health risk prevention programs. Efficiently designing GRTs with a sample size that is sufficient for meeting the trial's power and precision goals while not wasting resources exceeding them requires estimates of the…

As part of their 10-year $60 million Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, The California Wellness Foundation funded 18 state and local organizations to conduct policy advocacy to strengthen teen pregnancy prevention policies. This article describes how some of these grantees accomplished noteworthy goals, including the passage of the…

Sixty-four federal Elementary and Secondary School Counseling (ESSC) program grants were awarded in 2009. One awarded school district implemented a comprehensive school counseling program based on the ASCA National Model at three high-needs elementary schools. This case study describes a district initiative that provided prevention education for…

"Catalyst" is a publication of the U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The National Study of Student Hazing Initial Findings; (2) The Social Norms Marketing Research Project--An Update; (3) Message From William…