Environmental unpredictability has become a crisis for the 21st century. In response, organizations from the local to international level are addressing the issues by creating, supporting, and promoting initiatives. Schools and school leaders play an important role in this work. An example of a multi-scaled initiative is the U.S. Department of…

Qualitative interviews and focus groups are commonly used methods to elicit participants' voices in program evaluations. However, the use of these data-gathering methods can fall short of the goal; even with open-ended questions, the protocols guiding and shaping interviews and focus groups heavily reflect the evaluators' understanding and…

Background: Availability and quality of nutrition-related health-promoting interventions (N-HPIs) vary across primary schools. We examined whether school contextual factors (e.g., socioeconomic deprivation) were associated with N-HPI availability in Quebec, Canada, and whether available N-HPIs incorporated evidence-based implementation…

ABSTRACT Many youth seek and receive mental health treatment in schools, yet research on their perceptions of these interventions remains uncommon. This qualitative study explored how student perspectives on social validity informed the ongoing implementation and evaluation of the Well-Being Promotion Program (WBPP), a Tier 2 positive psychology…

The purpose of this review is to summarize the literature on school-based programs that have been developed to address body image among adolescents. A literature review on this topic has not been conducted since 2013, warranting the need for an updated review since the proliferation of social media and other societal changes. Articles were…

Objective: The aims of this pilot study were--first, to assess the impact of a brief classroom-based mindfulness program on students' reported levels of mindfulness, well-being, and stress; and, second, to understand students' experiences of participating in the program. Participants: Students at a private midwestern research-intensive university,…

Drug use trends change rapidly among youth, leaving educators and researchers struggling to respond promptly. Widely adopted universal evidence-based interventions (EBIs), such as the Michigan Model for Health™ (MMH), and their delivery systems offer an opportunity to reach large youth populations and reduce the onset and escalation of emerging…

Similar to national trends, in Illinois, fatal opioid overdoses have risen. Black men (35+) outrank all other racial subgroups for the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses in the state. To address this, Prevention First and the Illinois Department of Human Services developed a public health education campaign to support increasing enrollment in…

A growing divide in physical activity amongst youth, fueled by the privatization of youth athletic programs, most negatively impacts underrepresented students. Intramural-sports programs hold the potential to engage more of our youth in physical activity, including those from marginalized populations. Utilizing a collective impact approach,…

LifeSkills Training is the only program to prevent substance use disorder among adolescents that has evidence of effects on substance use outcomes from multiple randomized controlled trials. Evaluations have shown that the version for middle school students reduces their use of substances in high school, but these studies were conducted in the…