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Can school-based prevention keep young people healthy?

Operating at the intersection of education and public health

We’ve seen progress in adolescent sexual risk behaviors and high-risk substance use, but we’ve also seen concerning upticks in adolescents experiencing violence and poor mental health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a leader in using data to drive action to address these harmful experiences.

CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) works to maximize the protective effects of safe and supportive school environments and school connectedness. When students feel safe and connected with a supportive school community, they do better emotionally, socially, and academically. The more activities a school implements to enhance safe and supportive environments, the greater the positive impact on health outcomes.

Westat supports DASH’s mission by helping DASH communicate effectively about its research and proven strategies for helping youth thrive. Westat provides strategic communication planning, guides digital and social media strategy, develops key messages to translate DASH’s data into action, and creates messages and materials to reach multiple stakeholders.

Using performance data and audience assessments, we developed an innovative social media strategy that emphasizes qualitative success, proactive engagement, and leveraging platform features like threads and quote tweets. Working with DASH, the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), and the Office of the Associate Director for Communication (OADC) to gather metrics, we provide data-driven recommendations to increase reach and engagement in support of DASH’s communication priorities.

For DASH’s 30th anniversary, Westat developed a suite of materials featuring DASH grantees and what it takes to move the needle on school health policies.

Our products included the What Is YRBS? (YouTube video), which explains the importance of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in improving health outcomes and was awarded a Digital Health Award and Telly Award. In 2019, we developed the #WhyYRBS initiative to spark discussion about why YRBS matters to the health of our nation’s youth. Video “shorts” from What Is YRBS?, e-newsletters, web content, and partner outreach complemented social media promotion to generate nearly 1 million impressions.

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AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
Baltimore Metropolitan Council
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
DC Public Schools
Georgia Department of Transportation
Internal Revenue Service
Leadership Montgomery
Maryland Cancer Registry
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
National Science Foundation
NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
SiriusXM
Social Security Administration
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Teach for America
Texas Education Agency
The Johns Hopkins University
The National Institutes of Health
The Verizon Foundation
Toyota
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
University of Maryland Baltimore Campus
University of Michigan
University System of Maryland
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