The Academic Edge

Academic Edge, Inc. is currently working on a research project to support youth development professionals working in community-based organizations (CBO). CBO help hundreds of thousands of kids each year and youth development professionals working therein are often called upon to address sexual health issues. Supported in part through a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a part of the National Institutes of Health, and in partnership with Indiana University and University of Nebraska researchers and other experts, the effort seeks to understand the types of sexual health related issues that youth development professionals encounter, the factors that make handling these situations easier or harder, and to develop resources to assist them, and their organizations, in handling sexual health issues in { read more }

AEI’s Director of Research and Development presented a poster at APHA on behalf of a team of Indiana University researchers who are exploring better ways to train medical residents to adopt and implement SBIRT–screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment.

Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) has been shown to reduce substance use and related consequences in primary care settings. Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) trains all primary care medical residents to implement SBIRT at an adult primary care clinic. Training methods include web-based modules, face-to-face trainings, and interactive workshops. Continuous process evaluation and training modification is important to institutional adoption of new protocols. Further, time spent in training often is related to { read more }

EPT is a CDC-recommended healthcare strategy, with demonstrated efficacy. With EPT, patients diagnosed with bacteriological STI deliver extra prescription medication to sexual partners. When initially recommended by the CDC, very little research and few materials were available to understand and support implementation. We sought to close these gaps.

METHODS A five-year research effort was conducted to understand EPT uptake and to create resources that enhance provider and patient participation. The effort followed an iterative, multistage, user-centered approach grounded extensively in mixed methods descriptive research, expert input, psychosocial models of EPT behaviors, and formative evaluation.

RESULTS The research effort led to multiple models of patient EPT adoption, including identifying factors that influence { read more }

This year at the American Public Health Association annual meeting, we discuss development and evaluation of pilot web based resources for supporting faith leaders as they address suicide within their faith organizations.

In 2009, 37,000 people died by suicide, nearly 30 times that number attempted suicide, and 8.4 million had serious suicidal ideation. Faith leaders are well-situated to proactively address suicide prevention and reactively help those at-risk. In fact, 6 of 100 faith members may have serious thoughts of suicide. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of evidence-based resources to help faith leaders effectively integrate suicide prevention into their organizations. We sought to close this gap. Methodology. Guided by established behavioral change and educational theories, nationally distributed interviews { read more }

Academic Edge, Inc. has recently been awarded a grant to explore ways to improve sexual health counseling and education in community-based organizations, such as Boys and Girls Clubs.

In the United States, disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) and unplanned pregnancy among adolescents suggest the continuing need for evidence-based sexuality education.

Moving beyond traditional educational providers, community-based organizations (CBOs) have been identified as venues with significant potential to promote adolescent sexual health. Within CBOs, youth development professionals (YDP) are important sources of sexuality education for adolescents; however, recent research documents a need for systematic training and accessible resources for YDP and indicates that the YDP themselves desire ongoing { read more }