Webinars

At Prevention Central, we’re in the business of keeping you informed. That’s why we offer frequent webinars. From trainings on specific products to updates on our findings and approaches, Prevention Central is designed to help you stay on the cutting edge of prevention and health promotion research.

10 Myths About Underage Smoking & Vaping

There are still many myths about underage smoking and vaping that can complicate and hinder our efforts to prevent or delay tobacco and e-cigarette use among our nation’s youth. This webinar addresses 10 myths that we have encountered in our prevention work with children, teens, parents, and community members.

Our researchers, Dr. Allison Schmidt and Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, will present research findings to counter these myths to empower you in your efforts to address these continuing public health problems. We will also share information about some of the evidence-based programs that iRT has developed to prevent underage smoking and vaping.

This webinar is an official program of the National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® (NDAFW) hosted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Tuesday, March 22

The 10 Myths: Rethinking Underage Drinking

March 22 kicks off National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® hosted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. We’re excited to partner with them to host this webinar!

There are still many myths about underage drinking that can complicate and hinder our efforts to prevent or delay the onset of alcohol use among our nation’s youth. This webinar addresses 10 myths that our researchers have encountered in our prevention work with children, teens, parents, and community members.

Our senior scientist, Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, will present research findings and logical arguments to counter these myths to empower you in your efforts to address this continuing public health problem. We will also share information about some of the evidence-based programs that iRT has developed to prevent underage drinking.

Introducing Media Aware High School

Join us as we introduce Media Aware High School, a self-paced, web-based sex education program. We’ll go over the importance of a whole-student approach, show how high-school youth can develop their critical thinking skills about sexual health in media messages, and give you the tools to bring media literacy education to your institution.

Wednesday, October 28

Helping Parents To Communicate With Their Teens About Sexual Health

We live in a digital world. Social media, texting, and even online pornography are common parts of growing up in the 21st century–and all of these can affect a teen’s attitudes toward sex. These can be intimidating topics for parents, but research shows that parents are the most influential figures in an adolescent’s life. Join Drs. Scull and Malik to learn about how parents can successfully communicate through building media literacy skills, and participate in a sample activity about media depictions of gender roles. Afterwards, learn about Media Aware Parent, a new evidence-based, rigorously tested program from Prevention Central designed to help parents talk with their teens about relationships, sex, and media. A recent study of Media Aware Parent demonstrates its efficacy as a communication aid and sexual health education tool. The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Dr. Scull received her doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Duke University and has extensive research experience in the area of child development. Her areas of expertise include developing risk prevention programming for children and adolescents and conducting research studies with children and adolescents.

Dr. Malik received her doctorate in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her research focuses in the areas of health communication and media influence on adolescent health.

July 31, 1:00 p.m.

Resources to Educate Youth about Clinical Trials

Recruiting kids and teens to be part of a clinical trial can be difficult. However, we know that it is important for youth to participate in clinical trials in order to advance treatments specifically for youth. DigiKnowIt News is an interactive and informative website designed to educate children and adolescents on various aspects of participating in a pediatric clinical trial. It was developed by researchers and medical health professionals along with youth and parents. By providing youth with information about clinical trials, they learn to confidently make decisions about their health and any future opportunities to participate in a clinical trial.

Dr. Scull received her doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Duke University and has extensive research experience in the area of child development. Her areas of expertise include developing risk prevention programming for children and adolescents and conducting research studies with children and adolescents.

Dr. Parker received a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from North Carolina State University and has extensive experience in the area of children and adolescents’ social, emotional, and cognitive development. Her work has concentrated on children and adolescents’ self-regulatory abilities and healthy decision-making through the development of prevention programs and resources as well as the creation of tools to assess social and emotional learning.

Wednesday, June 26

Why Teaching Social-Emotional Learning Skills in Afterschool is Key to Promoting Positive Youth Development

Many educators already know the importance of teaching social-emotional learning (SEL) skills to children. Teaching children to understand and regulate their feelings, engage in effective problem-solving, and cultivate prosocial friendships can enhance their school engagement and academic performance, make healthier life choices, and reduce their aggressive and disruptive behavior.

Despite these benefits, few evidence-based resources exist to help educators teach their students these skills –and even fewer are designed specifically for afterschool programs. Join Dr. Janis Kupersmidt to learn about the many benefits of social-emotional learning and discover how the afterschool Buddy Builder program integrates SEL into a wide range of afterschool activities to help students get along better with both their peers and adults.

Dr. Kupersmidt is the founder and President of innovation Research & Training (iRT), as well as a licensed clinical child psychologist. She is a Senior Research Scientist at iRT, who has developed over 20 evidence-based prevention programs for children and adolescents, as well as contributed to the scientific literatures on topics including social-emotional functioning and learning; delinquency and substance abuse prevention; aggression in children and adolescents; and peer relationships. These skills and experiences, as well as her years as tenured faculty member in the psychology department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, helped her design the Buddy Builder afterschool program.

Wednesday, May 29

Preventing Drugged Driving through Community-level Approaches

Drugged driving is a hot-button issue being addressed by communities across America, particularly with increasingly broader legalization of marijuana and in the midst of an opioid crisis. Join Prevention Central’s Dr. Rebecca Stelter and Dr. Allison Schmidt to learn why a community level approach is important to preventing drug-impaired driving, and what evidence-based trainings and tools are available to help you do so.

Dr. Rebecca Stelter has been the Principal Investigator of contracts and grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on the topic of drugged driving. She is the lead author of web-based trainings on the topic of drugged driving including, Drugged Driving Essentials and Strategic Skills for the Prevention of Drugged Driving. Dr. Stelter received her doctorate in Developmental Psychology at North Carolina State University and also has expertise in the areas of childhood and adolescence, specifically related to decision-making surrounding the decision to drink alcohol or engage in aggressive behavior, mentoring at-risk youth, and parental socialization of emotional, social, and behavioral development.

Dr. Allison Schmidt is a behavioral scientist and public health researcher with experience in tobacco use and substance abuse prevention, especially among young adults, and led the randomized controlled trial (RCT) used to evaluate the Drugged Driving Resources skill-building training courses. She received her M.P.H. and Ph.D. in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her B.A. in Psychology from Scripps College.

Wednesday, April 24th

Teaching mindfulness to youth to prevent substance abuse.

Join Prevention Central’s Dr. Alison Parker to learn about a creative approach to substance abuse prevention through mindfulness education for children and adolescents, and how to provide youth with tools to cope with stress, regulate their feelings and behaviors, and make healthy choices. Dr. Parker is a Research Scientist at iRT and has been a Principal Investigator on multiple federally funded projects (i.e., NIH, IES, NIDILRR) to develop and evaluate school-based mindfulness education programs as well as online mindfulness programs for youth.

Wednesday, March 27th

Analyzing Media: A Creative Approach to Combating Youth Substance Abuse

Join us for a look at the cutting edge of Prevention Central‘s substance abuse prevention programming. We’ll go over the fundamentals of media influence on substance use, show how youth can develop their critical thinking skills about media messages, and give you the tools to bring media literacy education to your community.

Wednesday, February 27th