The PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) project for middle-school students and their families demonstrated the effectiveness of community coalitions in implementing universal substance misuse prevention at high levels of implementation quality. This approach, implemented by Penn State Extension in communities across Pennsylvania, led to significant reductions in youth substance misuse and problem behavior, with some findings persisting into young adulthood.
Dr. Janet Welsh will discuss the “PROSPER Plus” project, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is expanding Pennsylvania PROSPER teams and activities to include other prevention efforts, including supply-side stakeholders and community-based drug take-back initiatives.
About Dr. Welsh:
Janet Welsh, Ph.D., is a Research Professor of Health and Human Development at Penn State. In addition to serving as a co-Investigator for the original PROSPER research project since 2001, she is Principal Investigator for the Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support (EPIS), a university-based organization connecting research, policy, and real-world practice to improve outcomes for children and families across Pennsylvania, and Principal Investigator for several PROSPER spin-off projects, including PROSPER Plus.
Her research interests include the translation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) into community settings, understanding the factors that contribute to the success or failure of an EBI when introduced into new contexts, and adaptations of EBI’s within special populations, including the U.S. military and Native Americans. She is particularly passionate about helping disenfranchised communities to adopt best practices with children, families, and youth.
