As the nation transitions from responding to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to navigating its ongoing impact on youth and their communities, K-12 students continue to experience mental health and wellbeing challenges. In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each…

While universal school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs claim to target various SEL competencies, earlier reviews have not provided a clear overview of the competencies in question. We therefore wished to identify the competencies targeted in SEL programs for secondary school students. We also aimed to examine the effects of…

Background: Educators in rural schools are uniquely situated to address youth mental health disparities, yet often face challenges in delivering mental health supports. This paper describes the process of adapting the evidence-based Coping Power program, a small group prevention program for youth with aggressive behavior problems, to be a…

Purpose: Adolescent mental health is a public health priority. Considered an early intervention approach, Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) trains adults to provide initial assistance to adolescents experiencing a mental health problem or crisis. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the U.S. version of YMHFA (YMHFA-USA) among graduate…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a content-based workshop on public school special education team members knowledge and perceptions towards the identification of students with mental health challenges. Participants were professional public school employees from a public school district in southeastern Massachusetts.…

Nationally, school-based mental health (SBMH) is seen as an avenue to increase access to children's mental health services and promote mental health awareness. The current article describes the implementation of a statewide SBMH program focusing on partnerships between community-based providers and local school systems, with providers embedded…

This study evaluated The Grassroot Project, a middle school sexual health promotion program in Washington, DC that uses university-level athlete role models and sports-based games. Seven schools were allocated to immediate (n = 160) or delayed intervention (n = 166). Students were tested before and immediately after the intervention on attitudes…

Adolescents with overweight and obesity are at risk for future health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and initial efficacy of a weight management intervention to help adolescents develop healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviors and improve their anthropometrics. This study used a single-group repeated…

Background: Many young children experience the death of a family member and they may be at risk for developing psychological and behavioral problems, but not much is known about how to help young children cope with such a stressful and painful experience. Objective: The purposes of this study are to identify the interventions for bereaved young…

Community and School-Based Behavioral Health Service (CSBBH) was developed through a collaborative process that included schools, behavioral health providers, counties, and a payor. The clinical model within CSBBH relies on a common factors approach. To evaluate the effectiveness of CSBBH to meet the needs of students across a diverse state,…

Symptoms of depression are common in adolescents and have negative impacts on academic engagement and achievement, as well as on future mental health and functioning. A number of psychological therapies are effective for the treatment of adolescent depression but there are barriers to young people accessing treatment promptly. Providing treatment…

Background: African American women have the highest risk of death from heart disease among all racial, ethnic, and gender groups due to sedentary behaviors. Purpose: This article describes an intervention among 2 groups--a program group and an information group (intervention and comparison)--that assessed cardiovascular risk factor knowledge among…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a long-standing and important design for conducting rigorous tests of the effectiveness of health interventions. However, many questions have been raised about the external validity of RCTs, their utility in explicating mechanisms of intervention and participants' intervention experiences, and their…

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is essential to improving the health and nutrition among low-income individuals. During Fiscal Year 2017, over 42 million people living in nearly 21 million households received SNAP in the United States. Within the Mountain Plains Region (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,…

We present findings from a pilot implementation of the Extension Wellness Ambassador Program, a health-focused master volunteer program, and briefly describe the program approach and purpose. Program participants received 40 hr of training and completed assessments of self-efficacy, physical activity, and functional fitness at baseline and 3-month…