Adolescence is a critical period for developing risk behaviors such as substance use, which can impact health in adulthood. Culturally adapted evidence-based programs (EBPs) are promising for prevention. This review explores the processes for culturally adapting EBPs targeting alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis use, and/or anxiety or depression in…

Despite a robust field of study in healthy romantic relationship education and risk prevention interventions that employ traditional forms of delivery, the field of digital health interventions (DHIs) in healthy relationship programming for adolescents remains undefined. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize the scope of published…

A number of school-based mental health prevention programs have been found to be effective in research trials, but little is known about how to support implementation in real-life settings. To address this translational problem, this systematic review aims to identify effective strategies for enhancing the implementation of mental health…

Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among adolescents, globally. Though post-primary, school-based suicide prevention (PSSP) has the potential to be a key strategy for preventing adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STBs), there are persisting challenges to translating PSSP research to practice. Intervention and contextual factors…

A systematic review explored the creation and maintenance of community coalitions as effective for alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention in adolescence. Community coalitions influence the implementation of effective and sustainable community-based prevention via infrastructure supporting development, delivery, and assessment of human service…

Beginning in 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sponsored numerous studies testing the effectiveness of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention programs on youths' risky sexual behaviors. This article presents results from a meta-analysis of such studies completed between 2015 and 2019 and provided to us by HHS. Studies were…

The objective of this review is to establish whether or not existing school-based antibullying programs are effective in reducing school-bullying behaviors. This report also updates a previous meta-analysis conducted by Farrington and Ttofi. This earlier review found that antibullying programs are effective in reducing bullying perpetration and…

To understand the current state of research, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to synthesize the effects of suicide prevention gatekeeper training (GKT) on participant behavioral intention to intervene and participant suicide intervention behaviors. Included studies examined GKT with adult participants and measured either…

The involvement of former extremists in preventing and countering violent extremism has attracted many advocates. Interventions in school settings by or with former extremists have been commonplace for a long time, and in some countries even for decades, which is reason enough to focus on the current research state. We did this through a synoptic…

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in youth are prevalent and impairing, but available psychosocial treatments are difficult to access and show limited efficacy. "Prevention strategies" are interventions intended to be implemented during relative well-periods before impairment or other adverse outcomes set in and therefore help avoid…

Anonymous reporting systems (ARS) have been widely implemented in schools across the United States as a violence prevention strategy. The current study systematically reviewed the published literature on ARS in U.S. schools (including public and private k-12 schools, colleges, and universities) over the past 25 years to examine the effectiveness…

Repeat adolescent pregnancy is a public health problem worldwide. Different interventions aimed at increasing the use of contraception and preventing repeat pregnancies have been implemented and their effectiveness has been evaluated. This systematic review evaluates the results of the efficacy of diverse interventions for contraceptive use and…

Child maltreatment is a significant public health concern that affects children's health and well-being throughout their life. Children who are maltreated are at an increased risk of developing a disability or delay and are more vulnerable to a range of mental health-related problems, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, criminality,…

In this systematic review, we evaluated the quality and rigor of the current evidence base for the Second Step social-emotional learning program in middle schools. Eleven studies were coded using the "Council for Exceptional Children Standards for Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education" with an 80% weighted criterion. We…

Cyberbullying among youth is an emerging public health concern that has a wide array of deleterious outcomes. The current meta-analytic review synthesized school-based cyberbullying prevention programs' impact on promoting cyber-bystander intervention among K-12 students. As a result of exhaustive searches and a thorough screening procedure, a…