What's Happening

By ETR | October 7, 2014

We like this study from Harvard researchers looking at child and adolescent BMI scores (body mass index) and their correlation with walkability in the children’s neighborhoods. Researchers looked at BMI scores from medical records for almost 50,000 children ages 4 to 18. Then they used 8 variables to score the walkability of the children’s neighborhoods.

By ETR | October 6, 2014

Like others working in the sexual and reproductive health field, we’re pleased to see new attention being paid to the standard of affirmative consent. Using the shorthand “Yes Means Yes,” this standard requires partners obtain “an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement” before engaging in sexual activity.

California Governor Jerry Brown also signed landmark legislation clearly defining affirmative consent and requiring that colleges and universities receiving state assistance apply this standard in their policies and procedures.

Here’s a general news report from CBS News, a commentary on the news from the Ms. Blog, and an inventive app called Good2Go that offers partners an opportunity to affirm their consent on their smart phones. 

By ETR | October 1, 2014

After 25 years, ETR’s headquarters in Scotts Valley, California, has moved to a new location—the Enterprise Technology Center. We’re just up the road from our previous spot. We’ve spent the past month packing up books, files and equipment, and we’ve done an impressive job of purging the things that were ready to move on to the land of recycled stuff.

Any move this big can be stressful. But as you can see from our photo, we’re also excited to be in a location that offers us greater opportunities for synergy between departments. We’re all on the same floor, and it’s easy to find each other. Our Operations and IT staff did a magnificent job of making the move efficient and smooth.

So hello from our new place in the universe! We’re at 100 Enterprise Way, Suite G300, Scotts Valley CA 95066. Phone numbers and email all remain the same. We look forward to being in touch.

By Karin Coyle, PhD

ETR's research team is testing some exciting new programs that ask middle and high school students to consider the ways romantic relationships influence their sexual choices and risks. We call this “contextualizing” sexual and reproductive health education—that is, using the context of relationships to build health-promoting information, attitudes and behaviors.

By ETR

Take a look at some of the videos we've watched and liked this month. Can video games make you smarter? How can you show unconditional love? And don't you want to know more about ETR's award-winning pamphlet "Birth Control Facts"?

By Stephanie Guinosso, MPH

This year I had the pleasure of developing a new workshop on a topic near and dear to my heart—fostering resiliency among vulnerable populations of youth. For this workshop to deliver a powerful impact, I had to tap into these experiences, guide participants to acknowledge and question their subtle assumptions, and reinvigorate their attitudes toward the topic. To do that, I had to gain their trust. Only then could they draw from their internal motivation to make use of the research and best practice.

By ETR

We are happy to welcome new staffers Tamara Kuhn and Annika Shore. We are also pleased to announce the publication of a special issue of the international peer-reivewed journal Sex Education celebrating Doug Kirby's contributions to the field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

By Eloy Ortiz, MURP | August 15, 2014

ETR’s Science Department has conducted many longitudinal studies, on topics ranging from health behaviors to computer science interests. We’ve usually surveyed students in class or online, and often our biggest challenge is just getting a consent form signed and returned by the parents. Once we have consent, we work with the students, gather and analyze data, and write up the results.

The Math Pathways project is different because it involves gathering detailed information from mothers and students, as well as teachers. The goal of the study is to gather information that can be used to increase mathematics achievement among Latino students. We needed to meet individually with both the mother and the student outside of class. This created some challenges that helped us learn a lot more about the lives of these students and their families.

By Debra Christopher, MSM

New research is giving us some powerful and creative ways to understand what our brains are doing (along with the brains of our students, trainees, clients, patients and colleagues). The principles of neuroscience can help us make a healthy difference in people’s lives.

Here are some of the books we’re reading right now that contribute to better understanding of how brains work. Highly recommended!

By ETR

Developmental neuroscience is a fast-moving field relevant to health behaviors, health education and learning. Find out about the Annenberg Learner online course for K-12 teachers, Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections.

By Debra Christopher, MSM

Breaking a full participant group into small groups to work collectively on a learning activity is a savvy (and brain-friendly) strategy for increasing participant learning. Here are some clever grouping ideas that can make your trainings and presentations more dynamic and engaging.

Leslie Kantor, MPH

If you work in sexual and reproductive health, you know that the world today is different from the world of only a few years ago. Changes in social media and the digital environment affect norms, risks and behaviors among young people. I’m Vice President of Education for Planned Parenthood, and our organization has some promising new tools that combine what’s known about effective sex education with what young people like to do online. They provide a model that can be helpful across a range of health issues.

By ETR

Does Physical Education help with academics? What's the world of vaping really like? And just how important is social media? Sit back, kick up your feet and take a look at a few of our favorites among the videos that have run across our monitors this month.

By ETR | June 24, 2014

Brittany Chambers, MPH, one of ETR’s Kirby Summer Interns for 2014, brings with her a powerful combination of personal experience, educational achievement and commitment to the field. Our researchers are looking forward to working with her over the next few months.

Brittany met recently with Newsletter Editor Marcia Quackenbush to talk about her background, her vision and what she hopes to accomplish both in her internship this summer, and in her professional career. Here’s a report on their conversation.

By ETR | June 23, 2014

Our latest Quarterly Review is now posted and available for viewing if you’d like to see some of the work we’ve been doing over the past few months.

ETR’s incredible research and professional development groups have recently been awarded some exciting grants for projects that can help us understand and implement the best strategies for promoting healthy, fulfilling lives.

By Gina Lepore, MEd

Few people realize how little education doctors and other health care providers typically receive about sexual and reproductive health. Because such training is spotty at best, there’s enormous variety in health care providers’ comfort with and knowledge of sexual health and sexual practices. Unfortunately, patients often suffer when provider knowledge and comfort concerning human sexuality are poor.

By ETR

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated many of its resources, including several slide sets on epidemiology and the 2014 PrEP Guidelines on pre-exposure prophylaxis. One of our favorites is this page, which breaks HIV transmission risks into numerical calculations. Find out the best estimate for the risk of HIV transmission through needle sticks, vaginal intercourse, blood transfusions and more.

By Erin Cassidy-Eagle PhD | June 20, 2014
Previous Director of Research, ETR

While healthy sleep is important at all ages, it’s especially vital during the vulnerable time of adolescence. The challenges adolescents face at baseline, simply through the normal process of human development, are in many cases exactly those exacerbated by poor sleep. It's possible that helping young people achieve better sleep might ameliorate a whole range of other problems and challenges.