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This month’s episode tackles a fascinating combination of topics involving the impact of biological and social factors on chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, and the prevention and treatment efforts for those chronic diseases through state and local government programs.

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This month’s episode discusses mental health screenings for adolescents in the K-12 school system. We spoke to Deepa Sekhar, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine, and Executive Director, Penn State PRO Wellness; Perri Rosen, PhD, NCSP, Consulting Psychologist, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Pennsylvania Dept. of Human Services, and Steve Sharp, School Counselor in the Hempfield School District, and K-12 School Counseling Coordinator for the Hempfield School District about why having mental health screenings (or mood screenings) in K-12 schools makes a difference when helping children who might be struggling and getting them the resources that they need to succeed.

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Prescription opioid misuse can increase the risk of dependence and is one driver of the opioid epidemic. From 1999 to 2020, more than 263,000 people across the country died from overdoses directly involving prescription opioids.

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While almost 70% of K-12 students in the U.S. continue to attend their neighborhood public school, an increasing number attend other types of schools.

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As the opioid epidemic continues to be a major public health crisis with record-breaking deaths, policies that promote services for people with substance use disorders (SUDs) beyond clinics and in-patient facilities can help support treatment and recovery.

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Participation in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs can enhance students’ skills and help them prepare for high-wage and/or in-demand careers, while simultaneously addressing critical workforce challenges (e.g., staffing shortages).

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In 2021, more than 240,000 people in the United States died from drug overdoses and excessive alcohol use. Policies that prevent deaths from substance use and substance use disorders (SUDs) include increasing access to treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support.

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A key objective of the Research-to-Policy Collaboration is to facilitate working relationships and partnerships between these two communities.

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The end of the spring semester marks the release of another episode! This month, we tackled the tough topic of mental health among college students. We talked about how COVID-19 has impacted college students seeking mental health services, the challenges for counselors and administrators working in university mental health centers, policy solutions to the crisis, and other things that have happened as a result of the pandemic like changes in technology.

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The U.S. spends over $29 billion each year to identify and protect victims of child abuse and neglect through various Child Protective Services (CPS) processes and programs. Isolated allegations of child neglect (without concurrent abuse allegations) account for 60% of substantiated CPS allegations (confirmed as true).

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We spoke to Megan Kurlychek, Professor of Sociology, Criminology and Public Policy and Associate Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center at Penn State, and Rick Steele, Executive Director of the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission at the Pennsylvania Commonwealth, about their work in the juvenile justice field, the history of the juvenile justice system, prevention programs, the issue of recidivism, and more.

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A community school is a school with intentional, coordinated partnerships with other community resources.

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Child sexual abuse (CSA; i.e., physical or nonphysical sexual acts with a child under the age of 18 in which there is no or limited capacity to provide true consent) can occur through online exploitation, child pornography, and the luring of children offline for sexual encounters.

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NCP’s financial involvement can benefit the child in various ways. Child support payments are related to the child’s school achievement, fewer behavior problems, and a lower likelihood of child maltreatment investigations. However, 2/3rds of NCPS do not pay formal child support because they are in poverty.

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An estimated 43% of children in the United States have at least one parent with a non-standard work schedule, which often include irregular shifts. Professional child care providers typically do not offer services outside of traditional weekday working hours or accommodate changing schedules on short notice, and may impose monetary penalties for unplanned schedule fluctuations.

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This month’s episode tackles all things related to the U.S. Census. We discussed the decennial Census, the data products created and released from the U.S. Census Bureau, the current demographic trends and challenges, and measuring hard-to-reach populations.

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Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher programs are partnerships between school districts, institutions of higher education, and community-based organizations to recruit and prepare community members to become teachers in local schools (Gist et al., 2019).

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The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) proposed modifications to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), including the addition of data elements regarding LGBTQ youth.

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In this month’s episode, we tackled innovations in healthcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen a focus on various healthcare innovations and technology like artificial intelligence, cloud-enabled solutions, and inpatient telehealth, but other innovations are important, too. Some of these focused on in Pennsylvania include how we can get more value out of the country’s healthcare system without sacrificing the quality of care and lowering barriers for underserved populations.

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We’re kicking things off by exploring the opportunities and challenges of Pennsylvania’s child welfare system. For the past several years, there has been an ongoing partnership between Penn State researchers and government partners to change the Commonwealth’s county-based child welfare system through legislative and policy actions. We spoke to Jennie Noll, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and the Director of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network at Penn State University, and Brian Bornman, Esq., Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators Association, about their collaborative process, the challenges of navigating a stressed bureaucratic system, and what the future holds for resolving issues of child welfare and maltreatment.

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As the nation begins to “reopen” and the economy begins shifting, many states have begun ending pandemic-era unemployment insurance benefits. For many, unemployment insurance was the only thing keeping them afloat following the unprecedented unemployment crisis at the beginning of the pandemic. And yet, despite the unbelievable numbers of unemployed workers in our country, the stigma of receiving unemployment insurance persists. We asked ourselves why, in a time of tremendous health and economic crisis, are we giving folks who need help a hard time? We know that research shows that many families and individuals are still out of work and struggling to afford adequate food and pay mortgages or rent. Like other topics we covered – childcare and food insecurity, for example – the pandemic has made it abundantly clear that our country’s systems are unsustainable and not enough to support the financial needs of families and individuals.

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According to the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money or other resources. For example, this could mean cutting down on the number of meals or changing the types of food that you eat to save money.

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COVID-19 has upended the lives of nearly every individual in the United States, with prolonged school closures one of the major driving forces of disruption for youth and families.

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We spoke to Karen Grimm-Thomas, Director of External Relations at the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), and Philip Sirinides, Associate Professor of Education in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education and Director of the Institute of State and Regional Affairs (ISRA) at Penn State Harrisburg, about the impact that the pandemic has had on childcare providers and families throughout Pennsylvania.

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Physical and social distancing due to the pandemic has negatively impacted youths’ mental health. Within the last year, youth have reported elevated levels of anxiety and depression as a result of isolation.

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For our March episode, we explore the Pennsylvania Coordinated Medication-Assisted Treatment Program, or PacMAT, which builds evidence-based medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs for Pennsylvanians suffering from opioid use disorder. Currently, there are 14 PacMAT centers throughout Pennsylvania that utilize a hub-and-spoke model.

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Over 5.8 million people in the U.S. were victims of violent crime (e.g., domestic violence, sexual assault), in 2019.1 In the same year approximately 678,000 children were victims of abuse or neglect.

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High-quality, affordable, and reliable child care options are not accessible across the country. Child care deserts—areas with an insufficient supply of licensed child care options—are most frequently observed in marginalized and rural communities.

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Excessive alcohol use costs the US an estimated $249 billion each year.[1] The COVID-19 pandemic has affected young people in ways that may increase their risk for heavy alcohol use.

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As part of our new series, The Pandemic Perspective, we spoke with Commissioner Mike Pipe, Centre County Chair of the Board of Commissioners and Co-Chair of the Election Board of Centre County, and Dr. Chris Witko, Associate Director of the School of Public Policy and Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Penn State University. This episode is the second episode of a two-part episode about this topic. Listen to Part 1 here.

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For the second episode of our new series, The Pandemic Perspective, we spoke with Commissioner Mike Pipe, Centre County Chair of the Board of Commissioners and Co-Chair of the Election Board of Centre County, and Dr. Chris Witko, Associate Director of the School of Public Policy and Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Penn State University. This episode is broken into two parts – we had a lot to talk about! – and will be released biweekly.

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While misinformation has long been a component of traditional print and broadcast media, digital technology allows for the frictionless dissemination of false and manipulated content with, at times, acutely dangerous consequences.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has produced unique challenges for parents with substance use disorders (SUDs). Although some barriers have been alleviated (e.g., medication assisted treatment is more accessible for some and telehealth is broadly available), COVID-19 has still resulted in barriers to support for parents with SUDs.

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Victims of crime sometimes require compensation to cover the expenses associated with being a victim (e.g., medical expenses).

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The Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative Podcast is offering a new series called The Pandemic Perspective, where we examine how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and various aspects of our society, institutions, and other systems have collided, changed, and even collapsed in the last nine months.

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Excessive alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States[i] and has been made worse by the stress, anxiety, depression, and isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially harmful to members of social groups in the most vulnerable of situations, including youth in foster care and those who have recently exited care.

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In this month’s episode, we spoke to Alexis Santos, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, and David Saunders, Director of the Office of Health Equity for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, about different disparities throughout the Pennsylvania Commonwealth and how the lack of good data impacts what we understand about poverty and health inequities.

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Implicit bias is an unconscious attitude based on one’s experiences and societal exposure to social messages.

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What is there left to say about the opioid crisis that has not already been said? It’s claimed thousands of lives, torn apart families and communities, strained our country’s already fractured healthcare system, and cost the economy billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars. If burning a path through communities for the last twenty years was not enough, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many individuals and families to endure joblessness, potential homelessness, and other uncertainties, causing a spike in substance use and subsequently, overdoses.

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Victims of violence (VoV) often face a variety of obstacles to disclosing their victim status, which prevent them from receiving help. Victim services programs and organizations, which are often financially supported through the Crime Victims Fund, advocate for victims and connect them with necessary services.

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More than 2.2. million people are incarcerated in the U.S.; this is more people than in any other country and over half of these individuals are incarcerated for non-violent offenses. Incarcerated populations, correctional staff, and their families are at an especially increased risk to become infected with COVID-19, as the prison environment does not lend itself to be protective against illness.

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In 2018 [1], over 6.3 million people experienced a threatened, attempted, or completed violent crime such as rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, robbery, aggravated assault, or simple assault.[1] In addition, approximately 678,000 children were victims of abuse or neglect [2] and over 16,000 people were murdered.[3] These victims and their families need immediate and long-term services.

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The ways to improve minority and underserved communities’ interest and literacy for vaccine trials and contact tracing.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and unemployment benefits for many Americans decrease significantly at the end of July, many Americans will be unable to pay rents and mortgages and may face eviction. Given the severity of this particular crisis, July’s episode focuses on multiple issues related to housing in America, like the lack of affordable housing and housing as a means to improve overall health and well-being. In this episode, we spoke to Bryce Maretzki, Director of Policy and Planning for the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, and Selena Ortiz, PhD, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Administration as well as Demography, at Penn State.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has increased risk factors for child maltreatment [1],[2],[3]. It is, therefore, critical that policymakers ensure support in promoting safety, resilience, and overall well-being of vulnerable children and families.

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Negative relationships between police and communities are associated with civilian perceptions of lack of safety, low civilian trust in police, and overall negative perceptions of law enforcement, particularly for Black communities and other communities who have been historically marginalized.

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Among the many distressing ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a heightened risk for family violence including both child maltreatment and intimate partner violence.

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Systemic maternal healthcare disparities disproportionately affect Black women and other women of color, particularly those also experiencing socioeconomic disadvantages. Provider training and inter-agency partnerships have the potential to buffer risks and support maternal health.

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In addition to participating in the following interviews, Ann Michelle Daniels, Dara Whalen, and Kamila Alexander also participated in our virtual congressional briefing on this topic.

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Inventory of programs provides a tool to map their implementation across continuum of care

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Violence (e.g., physical, psychological, and sexual) is unfortunately common and often results in victims needing immediate and long-term services.

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Contact tracing is critical to containing and mitigating the spread of COVID-19. It is a tried and true, evidence-based mechanism to identify disease patterns during a pandemic. Coordinated federal efforts, including the use of national contact tracing strategies, are effective at containing and mitigating the impact of pandemics.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting people of color, in terms of number of cases, mortality rates, pay cuts, and job loss. The health and economic devastation of this outbreak, in addition to the distress raised by the recent killing of George Floyd and many others, are significantly contributing to the stress of the nation and disproportionately impacting the mental health of people of color.

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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 125,000 additional mental health professionals were required to meet the nation’s mental health needs. Recent events have intensified the need for mental health professionals and the services they provide.

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Pennsylvania is considered one of the most rural states in the nation, and is anchored by Pittsburgh in the southwestern and Philadelphia in the southeastern parts of the state. Across the nation, however, rural counties have much in common in terms of geographic isolation and significant challenges like access to economic development, transportation infrastructure, broadband services, healthcare services, and many others. As the U.S. continues to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, the inadequacy of our country’s healthcare system hangs heavily over rural communities and the people living in them.

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The emergence of COVID-19 is not just a reminder of the digital divide in our community; it also highlights the inequities in accessing technology and online educational resources.

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This issue presents research-informed policy recommendations regarding the effects of COVID-19 on welfare-youth, and human trafficking and exploitation. The prevalence of human trafficking heightens with the growing impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable communities.

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Human trafficking is the crime of using force or fraud for the purpose of compelled labor or a commercial sex act. The United States considers “trafficking in persons,” “human trafficking,” and “modern slavery” to be interchangeable umbrella terms that refer to both sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

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Providing necessary care and social support is critical during the perinatal time period to ensure the health and well-being of parents and children. Due to concerns related to COVID-19, hospitals have limited the number of people who can be present during and following birth.

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Human trafficking involves individuals being compelled to work, provide services or engage in commercial sex through the use of force, fraud or coercion. COVID-19 has negatively impacted the screening and identification of human trafficking victims as well as reduced survivors’ access to the mechanisms associated with successful recovery (e.g., case workers, social workers and legal assistance).

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Contact tracing is a robust public health strategy to address evasive infectious disease outbreaks [i] and requires sensitive interpersonal and cultural competence to cultivate trust with patients and contacts [ii].

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Stressful situations combined with increased drug and alcohol use set the stage for potentially dangerous situations, especially for youth in abusive homes. Youth who consider school a safe haven may now be confined at home with their abusers.

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COVID-19 has created new barriers for students with disabilities. Students receiving special education services toward learning or behavioral goals are already at elevated risk for falling behind in school.

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Youth living in poverty are more impacted by the digital divide. This divide may widen as many schools transition to online learning.

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This issue presents research-informed policy recommendations regarding migrant workers and children. Particularly, attending to the impact of COVID-19 on health and economic disparities among America’s international workforce, as well as implications for educational access and linguistically diverse students

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The U.S. is the new epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic. Mitigation strategies are more critical than they ever were before; however, they may exacerbate socioeconomic inequities and disparities that endanger the health and well-being of families.

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The Coronavirus has forced many families to make significant changes in their daily lives, limiting access to important resources that strengthen family functioning and well-being.

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For this month’s episode, we spoke to Penn State’s Marty Sliwinski, PhD, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, and Stephanie Cole, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant at the Office of the Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Aging, about challenges and opportunities related to aging.

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Nationwide, stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders have been issued in response to COVID-19 in order to facilitate physical distancing practices.

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In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, many families are facing social shifts, economic uncertainty, and disruptions in their daily life, as well as coping with closures to school and childcare facilities and demands of providing for educational and childcare needs.

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Immigrant families and children who are infected/influenced by COVID-19 face various barriers in seeking healthcare.

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Schools, often a safe refuge for many children with an abusive parent or caregiver [i], are being closed from in-person instruction across the nation.

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COVID-19 is an equal opportunity virus, but exposure to this virus does not take place in an equal opportunity context. Although only some states and counties provide COVID-19 cases and outcomes by race, the data available indicate that disparities are stark.

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All students deserve an appropriate and effective education, including English Learners (ELs) [1] and dual language learners (DLLs) [2], collectively referred to as linguistically diverse students.

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Persons experiencing homelessness are at high risk of infection, transmission, complications and mortality from coronavirus. Persons experiencing homelessness have higher rates of physical and mental health conditions compared to the general public.

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The fast-moving Coronavirus pandemic (also known as COVID-19) has numerous implications on the health and well-being children and families.

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The fast-moving Coronavirus pandemic (also known as COVID-19) has numerous implications on the health and well-being children and families.

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This week, we spoke to Penn State’s Jeff Ulmer, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Criminology, and Mark Bergstrom, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing about criminal sentencing guidelines. Sentencing guidelines are a set of standards that are generally put in place to establish rational and consistent sentencing practices within a particular jurisdiction.

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County C-Stat effort ensures collaboration to enhance community outcomes

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Government and public stakeholders can monitor data and progress on interactive website

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What Do We Know About The Impact of Pandemics on Families?

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Social Isolation Exacerbates the Severity of Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders.

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There is Good News. China has turned the curve on the coronavirus (no new cases as of 3/19/20); South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong internationally are containing the virus….but America is not ready.

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Improve Access to Items Needed to Reduce Harm Associated with Opioid Misuse.

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This is an official statement of the Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, and does not represent the position of the American Psychological Association or any of its other Divisions or subunits.

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Refugees face structural and cultural barriers associated with higher physical and mental health disparities, poverty, and uncertainty about their rights and legal status.

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The Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) has led to decreased incidence of diabetes in tribal communities; however, there is room for program improvements.

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Due to issues of confidentiality that often prevent data and information sharing, the established bureaucratic process often doesn’t allow organizations to collaborate.

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Racial disparities are connected to maternal mortality, especially African American women. Inadequate healthcare has been a concern with racism being a primary cause.

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Trauma-informed care (TIC) refers to strategies that agencies, programs, and service providers can use to understand, identify, and respond to individuals who may have experienced trauma.

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Addiction is a complex disease, and there is no “one-size fits all.” Treatment should be personalized, measure progress over time, and develop a long-term strategy for continuing care after treatment.

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Multiple organizations responded to this issue by summarizing the empirical evidence on the adverse psychological and physical health consequences of trauma anticipated from forced family separation, detention, feared deportation and acclimation.

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Domestic violence and child maltreatment co-occur in 30-60% of families experiencing violence. Yet agencies serving children and adults too often fail to coordinate, resulting in disjointed, erratic and less effective services, leaving children and adults experiencing violence and trauma unidentified, untreated, and less safe.

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Governments at all levels possess comprehensive information systems on citizen services that often exist in silos.

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How well children and their families adapt to adoption depends on a few things, including social environments, biology, and time. This document reviews information associated with adoption permanency.

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Survivors of domestic violence often need to leave their residence in order to escape abuse and it is vital the abuser not be able to find them. In order to keep survivors safe, it is important they remain hidden from their abuser.

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American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/NA) women are at an incredibly high risk to be the victim of violence. Recent estimates suggest over 500 unsolved cases nationwide of missing and murdered AI/NA women.

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High quality programs are the most successful and cost effective. These programs should focus on cultural and regional relevance, violence across genders, and risk reduction.

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The following information was gathered to respond to the efficacy of TANF in promoting self-sustainability:

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Probation department vets programs for effectiveness with screening tool

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Local and county stakeholders benefit from systemic process to identify gaps in services

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We have begun to identify researcher-oriented professionals who have expertise in the following areas...

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Many women who use substances are mothers with minor children or are of reproductive age.

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This brief summarizes child trauma and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)

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Trafficking in persons is defined as the recruitment, transportation or acquisition of persons by force, coercion, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person for the purpose of exploitation (UN Palermo Convention).

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We have identified several research-oriented professionals who have expertise in intercountry (international) adoption and the quality of orphanages abroad. We are currently in the process of engaging more experts both in and outside of our network.

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We gathered the following information to respond to general interests related to substance use treatment, abstinence, and prevention.

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Over the last decade, the number of infants affected by prenatal substance exposure, withdrawal symptoms or alcohol use has significantly increased with the opioid crisis.

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Key principles, examples from jurisdictions offer guidance

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6 actions for legislators to consider for budgeting that prioritize proven results

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Training, implementation monitored to ensure evidence-based services achieve results

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Collaborations with academic partners help governments assess outcomes

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Integrated system provides comprehensive client information to better assess impact

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State budget office and legislators consider outcomes in strategic planning

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Child maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect) results in a yearly economic burden of $124 billion1 Approximately 4 million reports are made to Child Protective Services (CPS) each year involving 7.4 million children.

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Clearinghouses and a ranking tool put focus on effectiveness of efforts to help vulnerable children

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New guidance provides a standardized approach to measuring outcomes

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Budgeting for Results framework used to analyze outcomes and return on investment

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Governor meets with key stakeholders monthly to review progress on priority outcomes

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State integrates outcome monitoring with other evidence-based policymaking initiatives

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Analyses ensure more decisions driven by data

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Use of inventory helps target limited resources strategically

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Standardized checklist used to align interventions with evidence-based standards

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How states can use performance management systems to achieve results

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National evaluation tool helps assess what’s working well - and what can be improved

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National program trains localities to conduct needs assessments so young residents get the services they need

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State requirement designed to ensure services are delivered as intended

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Strategies to codify results-based policymaking, Part 1

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Panel proposes using evidence-based analyses to determine best approaches

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A look at key steps for state and county partners

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A policymaker's guide to building evaluation capacity

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Policymakers aim to direct resources toward programs that generate results

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State prioritizes evidence-based programs in its contracts

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A national review of the use of administrative data to improve state decision-making

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Results First provides a guide to establishing and sharing clear definitions

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Evidence-based policymaking allows government leaders to achieve the best possible outcomes by investing in programs that have been rigorously studied and proved to work.

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Lessons from Washington, Tennessee, and Oregon

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How one state incorporates rigorous evidence of effectiveness into budgeting decisions

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A national assessment

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Data and research can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs

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How to use research to inform program funding decisions

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Policy efforts related to juvenile justice grew out of the initial 2016 implementation of the Research-to-Policy Collaboration by the National Prevention Science Coalition.

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A policymaker’s guide to effective program delivery

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Identifying what works in your state or locality

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A Guide for Effective Government

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Improving Results for Taxpayers

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Rigorous Quality Assurance Ensures that Washington State's Evidence-Based Programs Produce Expected Results