Resilience among Youth of Color in Impoverished Urban Communities

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a request for an NICHD Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Scientist Career Development Award (K23) FOA-PA-11-194. The candidate proposes to use a mentored support period of five years for developing an expertise in adolescent health intervention research. The candidate is currently an Assistant Professor at the Preventive Intervention Research Center in the Department of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The K23 will support training, course work, mentored relationships, empirical research, and other career development activities. The following objectives will be achieved: 1) Acquire advanced knowledge and skills in mixed methods research design and analysis; 2) Develop quantitative data analysis skills in longitudinal and mix-models; 3) Apply theory to the development, design, and evaluation of community-based interventions; 4) Develop competence in translational research and the science of dissemination and implementation. The primary research vehicle for achieving these objectives involve two phases: (1) developing and piloting a strength-based resilience promoting adolescent health promotion intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors and substance using and abusing behaviors among African American/black and Latino youth living in low-income urban communities; and (2) writing an R01 application to test the effectiveness of the intervention in reducing rates of participation in health risk behaviors (risky sex behavior, drug and alcohol use).