What's Happening

By Rebecca Shemesh | July 30, 2015
ETR Consultant Trainer

This activity can be easily adapted for use as an opener, energizer or closer. It gets participants up and moving, interacting with each other and rocking to your own special playlist. It’s a great way to build excitement at the beginning of a training day, help participants reinforce learning in the middle, or consolidate learning and intentions at the end. Highly adaptable and lots of fun.

By Brittany D. Chambers, MPH, CHES | July 28, 2015
Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina, Greensboro | 2014 Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

When you think about adolescent pregnancy, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Most people think about the negative issues.

“Dropping out of high school.”

“Depending on government assistance."

“Single-motherhood.”

“Promiscuity.”

By ETR | July 23, 2015

We’re excited to introduce three new designs in our popular condom holder series. If you distribute condoms through your clinic or program, you can now wrap them up in a packet that promotes a great health message.

By Gina Lepore MEd | July 20, 2015
Research Associate, ETR

Yes means Yes. Yes, I want you. Yes, I want this. Yes, I want to be here. Yes, I am consciously choosing this now. Yes, I respect your boundaries. Yes, I will ask if I am in doubt. More, please!

Last September, California became the first state to pass legislation that sets a new standard for sexual consent on college campuses receiving state funding for financial aid. This legislative act followed policy changes on consent at several universities across the country. Systems have continued to adopt affirmative consent standards, including the State University of New York (SUNY) system. 

Although considerable progress has been made in recent years in supporting survivors of assault, the same is not true when it comes to changing attitudes and beliefs about the abusive approach to sex that causes assault in the first place.

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | July 15, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

Yesterday, I heard that the United Nations had met their goal to treat 15 million people with HIV before the end of 2015. Officials were pleased to have reached this point early. The report also mentioned drops in the number of new cases and reductions in worldwide deaths from HIV.

There’s actually all kinds of encouraging news about the HIV epidemic. More people are accessing treatment, people with HIV are living longer, cases among children are down by 58%, tuberculosis-related deaths among people with HIV are down, and investments in prevention and treatment are up.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says we are on our way to an AIDS-free generation, and we can end the epidemic by 2030.

Like many others in the health care and prevention education worlds, this kind of news feels personal to me. 

By Tamara Neff, MA | July 13, 2015
E-Learning Curriculum Developer, ETR

As technology is further integrated into our daily lives (and our very beings), so it has become an essential part of the learning experience. We see it from early childhood development on through emerging K-12 education standards. We find it in popular online higher education and professional development programs.

Technology continues to enhance and improve the quality and quantity of learning opportunities available to an ever-widening population of learners. This is true to such an extent, the “E” in E-learning is becoming redundant. Many of us in the field might assert that it already has done so.

By Laura Perkins, MLS | July 9, 2015
Project Editor, ETR

Laws on the legalization of marijuana in the U.S. are changing rapidly. Since 1996, 23 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized the use of marijuana to treat some medical conditions. A number of states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. And now Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon have legalized the recreational use of marijuana for adults over 21. The public health implications within this changing landscape are only just beginning to emerge.

By Erin Cassidy-Eagle, PhD | July 6, 2015
Director, Research, ETR

It’s almost time for bed and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach. Will it be like last night? And the night before? And the three weeks before that?

Sound familiar? If it does, you are not alone. An estimated 50-70 million US adults have sleep disorders. Older adults are much more likely to complain about trouble sleeping. Poor sleep in older individuals is also a risk factor for a range of other concerns, including declining cognition, depression and greater functional impairment.

By Debra Christopher, MSM | June 30, 2015
Director, Professional Learning Systems, ETR

OK, I admit it. I’ve been around for awhile. I taught health education in the classroom for four years early in my career. Then I made a shift, and for the past 25 years I’ve worked to support adult learners who deliver health education programs to youth.

The essence of my mission: create change (in adult instructional savvy) to create change (in youth behavior).

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | June 26, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

It has been a momentous morning. My wife and I took an early hike. We were out on the trail when we got the text from @HRC about the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. “Reply w/pics to show how you’re celebrating,” they asked.

We grinned. We cried. We took a selfie out there in our little patch of wilderness. And not surprisingly, we both began a survey of our lives, and this struggle, where we’ve been and this place we’ve come to now. Change is powerful stuff, for a person and for a nation.

By Michael Everett, MHS | June 24, 2015
CEO, Intimacy & Colour | Consultant, ETR Community Impact Solutions Project

We all know what it feels like to sit in the back of the room, praying we don’t get called on by an instructor. Or feel too afraid to ask a question despite the depths of our confusion on a given topic.

The culture of asking in this country is a complex one. On the one hand, as a greater society we believe in the power of help. Look at our public health policies, free HIV testing or charitable organizations. Even the values we learn in kindergarten—“Clean up the play area together”—promote helping.

On the other hand, we are not as hard wired to ask for help as we are to provide it. So this begs the question—what is our big “ask” problem?

By William Spatafora | June 22, 2015
MPH Student, Tulane University | 2015 Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

“Why? He’s a boy.”

These were the first  words out of my cousin’s mouth last month when I asked if her 12-year-old son had been vaccinated against HPV. “Isn’t the HPV vaccine given just to girls, to protect against cervical cancer?”

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, MCHES | June 18, 2015
Senior Editor, ETR

If your work involves talking to people about sexual health, you must be talking to them about STDs. Or STIs. Or both. Right?

As the great STD-STI terminology challenge continues, just about everyone has had to choose one term or the other. Well, everyone except for the people who use both interchangeably to mean the same thing. Or those folks who use each in distinct ways to mean different things.

I asked a few of my ETR colleagues to share their current thinking and preferred term for their work. Here’s what they had to say. 

By Monica Sun | June 16, 2015
MPH Student, Tulane University | 2015 Kirby Summer Intern, ETR

This summer, I have the fortunate opportunity to work at ETR with a group of intelligent, intriguing and passionate people. Just within this first week or so, I’ve met many inspiring minds who’ve come together in this organization with a common goal: making a difference in the fields of science, research and public health.

The atmosphere here inspires me! I’m even more determined to go after my goals of reaching out to the underserved and making significant contributions to these fields. 

By ETR | June 11, 2015

ETR extends an enthusiastic welcome to this year’s Kirby Summer Interns. Monica Sun and William Spatafora both hail from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. They will be spending the summer working directly with ETR researchers, gathering and analyzing data. Each will co-author a paper for submission to a professional journal. 

By Dan McCormick, MHA | June 8, 2015
Chief Executive Officer, ETR

Have you noticed that the pace of change is accelerating? Of course! We all have. And we're hearing about it over and over, with greater and greater frequency. “Be agile.” “Pivot quickly.” “Re-invent yourself.”

But how do we put these slogans to work to improve our organizations?

I believe one of the best ways to successfully navigate today’s world of high-velocity change is to create and sustain high-vitality organizations.

By Narinder Dhaliwal, MA | June 2, 2015
Project Director, California's Clean Air Project, ETR

“Nicotine is not addictive,” tobacco executives said in 1994, testifying before Congress in what are now known as the Waxman Hearings. They said this repeatedly, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary from authorities all the way up to the U.S. Surgeon General.

Over 20 years later, we have 20 more years worth of scientific evidence demonstrating that nicotine is addictive and harmful. We know these products are killing people in all kinds of ways, from direct smoking, to secondhand smoke exposure and even thirdhand smoke (the residual nicotine and other chemicals that remain on people and indoor surfaces—hair, skin, clothes, counters, furniture, drapes, bedding and more).

So what are tobacco companies telling us now that e-cigarettes are on the scene?

By Annika Shore, MPH | June 1, 2015
Professional Development Consultant, ETR

Are you a trainer, professional development provider or sexuality educator? Do you deliver trainings for educators on evidence-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health programs (EBPs)? Then we’re looking for you!

ETR is offering it’s research-based Training of Trainers—Evidence-Based Programs this coming September 15–18. This training provides an opportunity for you to become skilled in delivering Trainings of Educators for one of these three programs: Draw the Line/Respect the Line (DTL/RTL), Reducing the Risk (RTR) or Becoming a Responsible Teen (BART).

The training will help you bring a new level of energy, understanding and skill to your work.