What's Happening

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | August 7, 2018

Fifth grade. My girlfriends and I are on the climbing gym. We stay on the low bars and carefully tuck our skirts under us so the boys won’t look up our dresses. When we really want to bust free and climb up to the top, my friend Cyndi—one tough girl, I’ll tell you—runs foot patrol around the base. No boys allowed near the gym!

By Jenna | July 13, 2018
Transitioning to 6th Grade

Editor’s note: I had an opportunity to talk with the daughter of a friend about some of her recent school health education experiences. Here are some of her comments.

I just graduated from 5th grade. I’m excited about what’s coming next—I’m going into middle school next year!

By Ryan Watson, PhD | June 18, 2018
Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut

To come out, or not to come out? That is a very real question constantly facing LGBTQ youth, as well as a fair number of young adults, across their entire lifespan. As a researcher, one of my interests is the choices queer youth and adults make about being out. Who do they come out to? How does this affect their health and well-being?

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | May 8, 2018

LGBTQ students have plenty of reasons to feel like they don’t “fit” in a lot of schools. They are likely to experience pervasive harassment and discrimination, which may be delivered by peers, educators or administrators. Most attend classes that make no reference to their relationships, LGBTQ contributions to society, or the history of the gay and transgender rights movements.

ETR's Health Equity Framework gives us a way to examine issues such as these and be more focused and intentional about the steps we take to address them.

By Debra C. Harris, PhD, MST | April 26, 2018
Senior Instructor, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health & Adjunct Instructor, Graduate School of Education

Come take a ride with me. We’ll climb into an old BMW and drive on up from Red Lodge, Montana, to the Beartooth Pass (elevation 10,947 feet). Our chauffeur will be Dr. Bill Kane, which is why we’ll be stopping along the way to look at the beautiful fall colors, listen to the birds, hear the wind, and maybe spot some deer. Bill needed to do these things. He was that kind of person.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | April 12, 2018

Worried about social media’s influence on youth? A lot of people are.

In the first part of this blog post, I talked about some of the reasons we worry. Here are 6 recommendations that can guide parents and those who work with youth in supporting healthy use of these new tools.

By Elizabeth McDade-Montez, PhD | April 5, 2018

From a fairly young age, today’s kids are growing up with all kinds of social media. Parents and professionals struggle to keep up with the latest trends and protect children from possible harm. As a media researcher and a parent, I'm also working to stay abreast of the latest technology and how it impacts children and adolescents.

But rather than looking at every new app as a focus of research, I'm interested in the larger issues related to social media use—things like why and how we use social media.

By Karen Stradford Boyce, LCSW, & Madeline Travers, MPH | March 27, 2018

LGBTQ youth face distinct health risks compared with their non-LGBTQ peers. In the last few years, the call to address the sexual health needs of LGBTQ youth has rung loud from both programs and research. At the same time, a rollback of LGBTQ-focused initiatives and programs at the federal level has created an unprecedented need for support for the LGBTQ community and its youth.

By Suzanne Schrag | March 22, 2018

Here’s a different take on a familiar saying: Those who can, do. Those who really can, teach! And those who teach health know the value of teaching advocacy skills.

Giving students practice in advocacy is a great way to build engagement, review key concepts and personalize what they’ve been learning about healthy behaviors. Advocacy also helps communities hear vital information about health-related issues from critical stakeholders—young people themselves!

By Stephanie Guinosso, PhD | February 26, 2018

“Our goal is to create a beloved community. This will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quote resonates deeply for me. It truly captures the journey we must embark upon to become trauma-informed professionals working within trauma- and healing-informed systems.

By Suzanne Schrag | February 20, 2018

Where do young people get health information? Health educators hope their students understand how to find accurate answers to their questions from reliable resources. Such children and youth are in the best position to increase their knowledge in ways that will empower them to practice healthy behaviors and reduce their health risks.

By John Henry Ledwith | February 13, 2018

The great state of Texas. Known for its sports teams, exciting weather, roots-based eclectic music and grand landscapes. After my visit to northern Texas a couple of weeks ago, I’m going to add to that list: outstanding health education teachers.

I was working with health education master Susan Telljohann, PhD, as she delivered a training on the 15 Characteristics of Effective Health Education.

By Teresa McGeeney, MS | January 24, 2018
Epidemiologist, REACH Evaluation

I am a suicide prevention researcher. One of my early experiences in the field ultimately led me to a powerful conclusion. When schools (1) put effective, evidence-based anti-bullying polices in place, (2) make sure students know how to report bullying, and (3) ensure responses to these reports are perceived by students to be effective, schools are likely to see fewer suicide attempts among their students.

By Pamela Anderson, PhD | January 11, 2018

Sex trafficking among U.S. teens is real. It’s happening in most communities—in schools, at the mall, online and in other situations. If you work with young people, I hope you’ll check out some new free resources you can use to share facts about youth trafficking with both young people and adults. 

By Suzanne Schrag | January 9, 2018

Skills are a vital part of effective health education. And, in addition to acquiring knowledge, a focus on practicing skills is becoming more and more accepted as the best way to help young people establish healthy behaviors. This, in turn, helps them reduce their health risks. 

By Laura Perkins, MLS | December 14, 2017

We live in an age of distractions—distracted eating, distracted driving, distracted walking.

So, health educators. How do you get your message across to your distracted clients? ETR is excited to introduce a new line of products designed to grab attention and spark curiosity.

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | November 30, 2017

Okay. It didn't happen at the water cooler. It was at an intersection of three cubicles—just a coincidental collection of colleagues crossing one another’s paths. We were talking about topics many of you have also been discussing with workmates, family and friends over the past several weeks—the instances of sexual harassment and assault that have been before the public eye.

Whom do we believe? What should be done? What can we do in our lives and our work to bring this kind of violence to an end?

By Suzanne Schrag | November 14, 2017

How do we give students the concepts and skills they need to choose healthy behaviors for a lifetime? From the 15 Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula identified by the CDC, we know that an effective program “provides functional health knowledge that directly contributes to health-promoting decisions and behaviors.” It also “builds competence and self-efficacy by addressing skills.” Let’s see some examples of how these two key components of a great health education program play out in Grade 2 of HealthSmart.