SDRG Projects
Research projects at SDRG seek to harness prevention science to improve lives among diverse populations. We do this by conducting research in multiple, coordinated areas, including:
- Seeking to understand the underlying causes of behavior, health, and social problems
- Developing and testing interventions designed to prevent behavior, health, and social problems
- Understanding how to take effective interventions out of the research setting and into the real world
- Studying service systems and working to improve them
Past Projects
Raising Healthy Children (RHC) (1993)
Approximately 1,000 students, their parents, and their teachers in Edmonds School District #15 are participating in the Raising Healthy Children (RHC) project, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Children in seventh and eighth grade, originally from 10 Edmonds District elementary schools, are taking part in the project which is being carried out by...
Six State Consortium for Prevention Needs Assessment (1993)
SDRG collaborated with the state offices of alcohol and drug abuse services of Kansas, Maine, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington to develop a reliable and valid set of indicators of risk and protective factors for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse. The project also created a system for periodically monitoring and reporting these indicators...
MY (Minority Youth) Health Project (1992)
The MY Health Project was a community-based research project to prevent health problems among minority youth. The project was a joint endeavor by health providers, researchers, and community members to test the effectiveness of youth involvement and community mobilization in changing norms and behaviors to prevent four major health problems facing adolescents: violence, adolescent pregnancy,...
Community Youth Activity Program (1991)
In the Community Youth Activity Program evaluation project, SDRG assessed the effectiveness of Washington State’s community mobilization strategy for risk-focused drug abuse prevention. Evaluation staff observed training events, interviewed community leaders and team members, analyzed program materials, and conducted in-depth studies of selected communities. The evaluation examined community team development, factors that may facilitate or...
Project Family Iowa (1991)
SDRG is teaming with Iowa State University to implement and evaluate the “Preparing for the Drug Free Years” (PDFY) parent training program as a strategy to increase family protective factors while reducing risk factors for drug and alcohol abuse in rural youth. This research is directed toward the evolution, refinement, and diffusion of interventions to...
Children’s Health Awareness Project (1990)
This five-year study developed knowledge of children’s views about AIDS and AIDS-related behavior, which will serve as the basis for school curricula. Investigators gathered information from third- through eighth-grade children about their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes toward AIDS, other illness, drug use, and sexual behavior. The project explored the effects of ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic...
Families Facing the Future (previously called Focus on Families) (1990)
Children of heroin addicts are at high risk of continuing the cycle of drug abuse. Parents in methadone treatment at Therapeutic Health Services participated in Focus on Families, a program to teach parents how to lower their children’s risk for drug addiction while avoiding relapse themselves. Parents learned skills to strengthen family bonding, encourage their...
Parenting for Drug Free Children (1990)
Many family-oriented drug prevention programs have been found to be disproportionately available to majority, Euro-American families. Parenting for Drug Free Children evaluated the usefulness of a parent training program to meet the specific needs of ethnically diverse families. The program, “Preparing for the Drug (Free) Years,” taught parents how to reduce their children’s risk of...
Project After (1988)
Project AFTER modified the Project ADAPT curriculum to address the needs of pregnant teens to develop skills to prevent drug and alcohol abuse. The project delivered the curriculum at University Hospital. Outcome data show that youth exposed to the curriculum had significantly higher skills at posttest then at pretest. Young women involved with the curriculum...
TOGETHER! Communities for Drug Free Youth (1988)
Through Together! Communities for Drug Free Youth, more than 50 communities in Washington and Oregon planned and carried out comprehensive drug abuse prevention programs. In collaboration with Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension and the Oregon Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs, the project provided an effective, replicable, community-mobilization model to strengthen a community’s ability...