Overview of the Institute of Medicine's Report on Preventing Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders among Young People

In February 2009, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine released a report, Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders among Young People: Progress and Possibilities. The report summarized the progress made in prevention research over the last 15 years and prioritized the research agenda for the future. It examined definitions of prevention, the developmental, epidemiologic and ecological bases for developing and testing preventive interventions and reviewed the progress made from rigorous experiments across the life span and contexts. It also outlined advances in genetics and neuroscience and implementation science that offer opportunities for conducting prevention research and moving prevention programs into community, social service, and institutional settings. This presentation will briefly overview the committee's findings and discuss the recommendations resulting from this report with an emphasis on issues related to health policy and research. This presentation is an effort to disseminate this important information to an audience that can be instrumental in implementing the committee's recommendations.