Research
For more than 30 years, ETR has been building the capacity of organizations, schools, healthcare settings, and government agencies through our training and technical assistance services. ETR uses a holistic approach to professional development and capacity building, tailored to address the goals of organizations and the communities they serve. Our research-based professional development model is designed to achieve sustained learning and is rooted in cognitive science, neuroscience, implementation science, and adult learning theory.
Featured Work:
Connections For Health
Connections for Health seeks to shift current research by providing new knowledge and resources for young people in rural settings. Increasing access to comprehensive health education and promoting teacher effectiveness and wellness can benefit students’ access to health information and school connectedness. This improves well-being, peer relationships, and lowers the likelihood of health and risky sexual behaviors among rural youth.
Project Legacy
Project Legacy is a positive youth development intervention designed to reduce sexual risk behaviors among youth experiencing homelessness. ETR served as the external evaluator of a multi-site randomized controlled trial led by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Conducted across six youth-serving sites in Los Angeles and San Diego, the evaluation assessed outcomes related to sexual health, substance use, housing stability, and employment readiness over a nine-month period.
Teen Talk High School Refresher (TTHSR)
ETR is leading a cluster randomized controlled trial to evaluate Teen Talk High School Refresher, a four-session booster curriculum developed by Health Connected for youth ages 16–19. Designed to build on prior sexual health education, the program equips students with knowledge and skills for informed decision-making as they enter adulthood. The evaluation, conducted across California high schools that serve rural youth or youth in alternative education programs, measures outcomes related to contraceptive use, sexual health communication, and access to care.
COMPASS
The COMPASS Initiative™ addresses the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Southern United States by partnering with local communities and supporting evidence-based solutions to meet the needs of people living with and impacted by HIV/AIDS. As the evaluation and capacity-building partner for the COMPASS Initiative, ETR provides technical assistance, training, and evaluation support to strengthen the impact and sustainability of community partners’ work and assess the efforts of implementing partners. Using the Collective Impact Model, a structured framework emphasizing a common agenda, shared measurement, and continuous communication, ETR tracks progress, documents success stories, and informs continuous improvement and scale-up of HIV-related programs across the Southern U.S.
Setting the PACE
The Setting the P.A.C.E (Prevention, Arts and Advocacy, Community, Education) initiative, funded by Gilead Sciences, is focused on improving the HIV landscape for Black women and girls in the United States. ETR's role as the independent evaluator for Setting the P.A.C.E. is to assess the collective impact of the program by gathering data from the grantees and the communities they serve. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, ETR evaluates program effectiveness, monitors progress, and helps identify best practices for program implementation to ensure the initiative meets its goals. View more information about Setting the P.A.C.E.
Next4You
Next4You is a digital intervention developed by ETR aimed at reducing unintended pregnancy and STI rates among youth aged 16–19 in California’s foster care system. Designed in partnership with young people with lived experience in foster care, the program is delivered via a mobile-responsive platform. Next4You is being rigorously evaluated by RTI International through a randomized controlled trial measuring outcomes such as sexual behavior, self-efficacy in communication and consent, and relationship equity. Learn more about Next4You.
Yes & Know
ETR, in partnership with UCSF’s Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, is leading a rigorous evaluation of Yes and Know, a fully virtual intervention created by ETR designed to strengthen healthy relationship and life skills among youth ages 14–19. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial across rural U.S. communities, the study will assess the program’s impact on unintended pregnancy and STI prevention. The evaluation addresses multiple gaps in existing evidence-based interventions, particularly the feasibility and efficacy of fully virtual sexual health programs, including self-paced, asynchronous learning supported by technology.
Featured Publications:
- Adolescent Sexual Health and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs Are Complex and Require Careful Design - Journal of Adolescent Health
- Centralizing Evaluation to Amplify the Impact of Focused Grantmaking and Capacity Building Across a Southern US Large-Scale HIV Initiative - PubMed
- Conceptualizing Meaningful Youth Engagement in Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Programming : Results From a Group Concept Mapping Research Project
- Evaluating a Future-Oriented Positive Youth Development Intervention to Reduce Sexual Risk Among Highly Mobile Youth: Results and Challenges
- The Role of School-Based Health Centers in the ACEs Aware Initiative: Current Practices and Recommendations
- Your Move: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Blended Learning Sexual Health Program (pdf)
