Research and Data Links

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Library at Georgetown University provides accurate and timely information including the weekly newsletter MCH Alert, resource guides, full text publications, databases, and links to quality MCH sites.

  Colorado Health Information Dataset (CoHID) allows access to local-level health data compiled by the Colorado Department of  Public Health and Environment to help users determine the health status of a neighborhood, community, county, or region in Colorado.

The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey instrument contains items from the Colorado Youth Survey (based on the "risk and protective factor" framework), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (from the Centers for Disease Control) and asset and resiliency scales.  In the fall of 2005 and spring of 2006, the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey was administered to a representative sample of 1,496 ninth through twelfth grade public school students in 29 high schools throughout Colorado. 

Youth Development Journal Supplement, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, November 2006 presents and discusses youth development (YD) approaches in the context of public health programs. The purpose of the supplement is to acquaint public health practitioners with the basic concepts of YD and to provide guidance about how to put them into practice.

Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to improving the lives of children by conducting research and providing science-based information to improve the decisions, programs, and policies that affect children and their families.

Healthy Teen Network is a national organization focused on adolescent health and well-being with an emphasis on teen pregnancy prevention, teen pregnancy, and teen parenting.

The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free, web-based resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in your community. Systematic reviews are used to answer these questions:

• Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective?
• Are there effective interventions that are right for my community?
• What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?

National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center has two goals: 1.) to serve as a national resource for adolescent health information and research; and 2.) to assure the integration, synthesis, coordination and dissemination of adolescent health-related information.

Center for Disease Control – Division of Adolescent and School Health seeks to prevent the most serious health risk behaviors among children, adolescents and young adults.

	Other Important Resource Links: The Colorado Best Practices Website aggregates and translates information on evidence-based or effective strategies for prevention and intervention strategies, programs and interventions that improve child, youth and maternal health outcomes. This includes researching, reviewing and summarizing current literature and web resources on “best practices” and making them available in one place. The Youth Development Institute, developed by The Colorado Partnership for Families and Children and the Colorado Afterschool Network, is a free online service open to all Coloradoans currently working with youth. Courses are designed to provide quality training in the areas of youth development. The Konopka Institute, inspired by the pioneering work of Dr. Gisela Konopka, has a goal of getting reliable information into the hands of everyone who is in a position to help adolescents. Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development connects thinkers and leaders of all ages to develop fresh ideas, forge new partnerships, and design strategies that engage young people and their communities. Its mission is to unleash the potential of youth, adults, organizations, and communities to engage together to create a just and equitable society. Find Youth Info Website offers Federally-developed interactive tools and other resources to help community organizations and partnerships in their efforts to support youth.  Included are tools and resources to help form effective partnerships, assess community assets, understand risk and protective factors, generate maps of local and Federal resources, and search for evidence-based youth programs.

Colorado’s Maternal and Child Health Action Guides combine data, evidence-based practice and resources into one user-friendly document! Topics include Positive Youth Development, Teen Driving Safety, the Medical Home Approach, Teen Pregnancy Prevention and more.


State of Adolescent Sexual Health in Colorado

Youth Partnership for Health

National Fact Sheets on Adolescent Health