The University of Minnesota Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center (UMN PRC) aims to develop and disseminate actionable knowledge and practices that promote health, healthy development & health equity among all young people, through collaboration with public health agencies, health care systems, K-12 schools, and related organizations. UMN PRC's aims, goals, and objectives are aligned with the nation's health goals pertaining to adolescents. UMN PRC is part of the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center, joining an interdisciplinary faculty and staff from the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health. We collaborate with local, state and national organizations to improve the health and well-being of young people through research, research dissemination and translation, evidence-based advocacy, training, technical assistance, strategic communications, and evaluation. Our activities are informed by a Community Advisory Network that guides the UMN PRC's priorities and utilization of resources to assure responsiveness to community-driven needs and concerns related to young people. UMN PRC's research and research translation agenda is guided by a healthy youth development paradigm that views young people as resources and full of potential that can be nurtured through intentional strategies and opportunities to build health, competence, and capacity throughout the second decade of life and beyond. The goal of the UMN PRC Core Research Study is to develop and pilot test a clinic-level intervention to increase the quality of preventive services, including the provision of time alone, for rural youth aged 11-17 while engaging parents in appropriate ways. This project is among the first intervention studies of adolescent preventive health services to include a focus on parent engagement and to be designed to be replicable by rural clinics in other areas and disseminated through state, regional, and national partners. This study will be completed in partnership with primary care clinics in rural Minnesota. During the study's initial phase, intervention messages and strategies will be finalized through formative research with primary care providers, adolescents, and parents; and through guidance from participating clinic systems and rural primary care practice advisors. During the study's final phase, the intervention will be implemented & rigorously evaluated. We will measure intervention effects on provider and clinic staff attitudes & practices; adolescent & parent experiences with the care that adolescents receive; and clinic-level provision of adolescent preventive services. Guided by the Knowledge to Action framework, we will disseminate and translate study findings for community, practice, and academic audiences. Conducted with partners in rural Minnesota communities, this study will contribute to young people's health, healthy development, and health equity, addressing multiple national health objectives and strategic priorities.
Achieving the aims, goals and objectives of the Healthy Youth Development - Prevention Research Center contributes to CDC and national health priorities by: a) developing and testing innovative adolescent health strategies through community partnerships; b) translating and disseminating research to ensure adoption of evidence-based adolescent health practices, programs, and policies in public health, primary care, and K-12 education settings; and c) strengthening the nation's current and future public health workforce through training and technical assistance in the use of evidence-based policies, programs, and practices that promote adolescent health and health equity.
