About Prevention Research Centers
PRCs work with local communities to develop, evaluate, disseminate, and apply evidence-based solutions to public health problems. Each PRC is funded for 5 years to maintain a research center and conduct prevention research that promotes health and prevents chronic illness and other diseases and disabilities.
History
The University of Minnesota’s Healthy Youth Development - Prevention Research Center – initially named the National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Research Center – has been improving young people’s health through evidence-based programs since 1996.
Community-partnered research
During each 5-year grant cycle, we conduct a major community-partnered research project. Our settings range from community programs, health clinics, and middle schools. Projects have evaluated case management, peer education, and service learning programs.
Our current core research project supports rural primary care clinics and clinicians in providing high-quality adolescent preventive care related to psychosocial and sexual health. The resulting clinic-level program, called TALK: Toolkit for Adolescent Care, includes training and tools for pediatricians is available through the American Association of Pediatric’s Project ECHO telementoring training and through our HYD-PRC trainings. It builds on a previous CDC-funded special interest research project, the Confidential Adolescent Sexual Health Services study.
Community-engaged application
We also serve as technical advisors and consultants to community organizations and governmental systems:
- Evaluation – We bring deep expertise to our work with our community partners to evaluate a wide range of projects, yielding concrete evaluation data and actionable insights to improve programs.
- Training – Our skilled staff collaborate with diverse communities and systems partners to tailor a wide range of trainings for any youth-serving audience.
- Tools – We develop hands-on applications that help practitioners, public health professionals, and educators engage youth and their communities in advocating for their health.