Background:

During summer of 2018, youth from Maryvale in Phoenix, AZ conducted a community mapping project. They collected information on youth services and community member’s perceptions of Maryvale. After reviewing their data and findings, the youth developed an initiative to improve community safety.

Methods:

In fall 2018, youth participated in a Health Equity Action Lab – a framework for taking action on community priorities provided by the 100 Million Healthier Lives initiative. They focused on fixing streetlights as a way to improve community safety. They developed an action plan and learned how to apply quality improvement principals to their project. The youth focused on identifying lights that needed to be fixed through community input and educated community members on how to submit a request to get lights fixed. The ultimate goal of their project is to fix the identified lights and work with local city officials to change outreach strategies and ease the light request submission process.

Results:

Throughout this youth led project, they have learned how to create a community improvement project and how put it into action. The youth have met with local political leaders and city entities to discuss their project, share their findings and propose policy change.

Conclusion:

Youth driven projects have multifold benefits for the youth, the community and the supporting agency. Founded in Positive Youth Development principals, this project has resulted in the positive growth of the youth and improvement in safety for residents.

Background: Positive school climate and youth development approaches have been demonstrated to increase resiliency and promote academic success among low-income ethnically diverse youth. The Youth in Action project was developed to integrate public health inquiry with a high school BioMedical Academy program and to promote youth development and leadership using a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) approach with a health and social equity perspective.

Research Question: This study aims to assess the association between positive school climate, engagement of youth, active teacher support, perception of school grades and public health knowledge among students participating in the Youth in Action project.

Methods: Baseline surveys were administered to 10^th grade students (n=102) at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo, California. Multi-item variables were adapted from the California Healthy Kids Survey to measure the following constructs: positive school climate, active teacher support, student effort/engagement and perception of school grades. Public health knowledge questions were developed and pilot-tested by the research team.

Results: Preliminary results from the baseline data indicate that there is no significant association between student effort/engagement with public health knowledge. However, public health knowledge was significantly associated with active teacher support (p = .0013), positive school climate (p = .0022) and perception of school grades (p = .0423).

Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the potential synergy of integrating Public Health inquiry and YPAR with BioMedical Academy High School programs to promote positive youth development and increase the engagement of low-income ethnically diverse students as active learners and leaders.

Traditionally, approaches to quality improvement in healthcare have been utilized in more clinical settings in which rapid cycle testing can be implemented and evaluated within short time frames. But how do these concepts translate when seeking to improve care on a more population-focused aim? And how can the public health workforce adapt and respond with this approach when it comes to adolescents? In 2015, state Maternal and Child Health programs were charged to prioritize annual preventive visits for adolescents (and by extension, young adults) through National Performance Measure #10: the percent of adolescent (ages 12-17) with a past-year preventive visit. That same year, the Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Resource Center launched a learning collaborative to aid state public health partners to build their capacity to improve access, utilization, and also the quality of preventive visits for young people. After 3 years and 2 cohorts of state multi-disciplinary teams, several key lessons were learned on how to apply concepts of Q.I. to systems-level partnerships and strategies for population health aims. Several technical assistance and training products were also generated to extend the learnings to other states, including an e-learning module for public health practitioners on “change concepts” for preventive services and a toolkit that uses creative arts to bring life to static public health data. The session will also share how the increased capacity and skillset of state MCH programs to apply Q.I. can equip them to address other pressing challenges for adolescents, including depression and other behavioral health issues.

Background: The presence of Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACES) provides a glimpse into the socially complex lives of youth. Thus far, youth have been categorized as “at-risk,” “vulnerable,” or "maltreated" – identifiers which highlight a deficits-based framework and continue to stigmatize youth. To combat this systemic marginalization, we propose the term youth with socially complex needs. These youth, often belonging to a racial or ethnic and/or a sexual or gender minority group, experience repeated adversity, discrimination, and health disparities. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the unique considerations of working with youth with socially complex needs, as they experience an increased vulnerability for social marginalization.

Methods: Seven community-based focus groups were conducted with youth with socially complex needs (n=5) and their service providers (n=2). Each group was recorded, transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed.

Results: Preliminary results from 29 youth and 13 providers indicate that there are unique considerations that must be taken into account while working with youth with socially complex needs to ensure effective service delivery and/or ethical research. Emerging themes include: setting the stage by building rapport and acknowledging experiences of structural violence, protect and hold which balances youth’s need for advocacy/support with their caregivers’ need for validation/understanding, and walking the safety tightrope by assessing risks and safety planning.

Discussion: Focus groups are an effective methodology when working with traditionally disempowered populations particularly in gaining a range of perspectives to meet unique needs/preferences. Youth with socially complex needs require strengths-based, individualized, multi-systemic approaches.