Background: Nutrition plays a vital role in children's physical and emotional health. More than half of school age children's calories are provided in the school food environment, making school interventions an opportunity to address child nutrition. Methods: The Creating Health Environments for Schools (CHEFS) program is designed to leverage…

Background: Teen pregnancy continues to burden families, communities, and society. Programs continue to educate and impower youth and young adults to make positive behavioral decisions. Methods: We evaluated a program aimed at high-risk youth in after-school programs. The goal of the program was to instill a sense of community and empathy, as well…

Background: Whole school, whole community, whole child (WSCC) approaches to education address contexts beyond school that influence young people's academic and life outcomes. These recommended approaches demand mobilization of an array of actors, but such mobilization is challenging. Little research has explored strategies for convening national…

Background: Breakfast consumption often decreases as youth get older. The School Breakfast Program (SBP) provides an opportunity to intervene and increase breakfast consumption, especially among high school students. Methods: Project breakFAST implemented an expanded breakfast service at 12 high schools. In this longitudinal evaluation, school…

Background: Youth violence is a significant problem affecting community health. Community-academic partnerships can advance youth nonviolence education by synergizing the strengths of collaborators while working toward a common goal. We describe a collaboration between an urban public middle school, community nonprofit, and university-based…

Background: The US Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) funded studies of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention programs in 2010. The results of a 5-year OAH study conducted in the state of Hawai'i with middle school youth has implications for school leaders in the selection and implementation of comprehensive sex…

Background: While dietary sources of calcium are important for bone health, the intake of milk and milk products decreases as children get older. A free milk in schools program may mitigate this decrease in milk consumption. We evaluated the Fonterra Milk for schools program (a free milk initiative) by determining changes in children's milk…

Background: With recent recommendations from professional organizations, long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods are considered appropriate first-line contraception for adolescents. Many school-based health centers (SBHCs) in New York City (NYC) have recently added onsite LARC insertion and management to their contraceptive options. We…

Background: Out-of-school time (OST) programs are an important setting for supporting student health and academic achievement. This study describes the prevalence and characteristics of school-based OST programs, which can inform efforts to promote healthy behaviors in this setting. Methods: A nationally representative sample of public elementary…

Background: Analysis of data from a NIMH-supported study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program (ADAP) in promoting depression literacy and help-seeking behavior. Methods: Eighteen Pennsylvania schools were matched on size, sex, race, test scores, median income, and free/reduced lunch status.…

Background: Given levels of sedentary behavior among youth, teachers have been called upon to increase physical activity (PA) by implementing classroom PA breaks. School-based interventions enacted in classroom settings have shown promise in increasing youth PA. Yet little is known about how teacher efficacy toward implementing classroom PA breaks…

Background: Insufficient sleep among students is a major school health problem. School-based sleep education programs tailored to reach large number of students may be one of the solutions. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to summarize the programs' effectiveness and current status. Methods: Electronic databases were searched up…

Background: Although schools often implement evidence-based sexual health education programs to address sexual and reproductive health disparities, multiple factors may influence program effectiveness. Methods: Using student-reported perceived impact measures as a proxy for program effectiveness, we employed a socio-ecological approach to examine…

Background: Teen Prevention Education Program (PEP) is a school-wide, peer-led comprehensive sexuality education program currently implemented in more than 50 schools across 2 states. Many teen pregnancy prevention researchers and practitioners view peer-led programs as a promising approach for reducing teen pregnancy and associated sexual risk…

Background: The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the effects of the LiveWell@School Food Initiative (LW@SFI), a Colorado-based childhood obesity prevention program that partners with school districts to enable them to serve more scratch cooked foods through culinary training, action planning, and equipment grants. Methods: This evaluation…