Hi All!

After a summer of working at a summer leadership institute and at Camp Swift, a non-profit organization which provides summer camp experiences to disadvantaged youth, I decided now would be the right time to publish my final research results. I truly enjoyed my time at Not My Kid and could not be more satisfied with the results that came of the months of research. Thank you all for coming along with me on this ride.

Final Research Results

Shir Attias

Demographic Results??

Hello all!!

Think back to a while ago (week 2 to be exact). If you remember, I categorized every school I went to into 5 distinct demographic groups in hopes of seeing if there is or isn't a difference in the successs of the presentation/prevention efforts in different demographic settings.

BA BA DA DUM

HERE ARE THE RESULTS

What does this mean??

There is no significant difference or evidence to show that there demographics play a role in how successful the presentation is. 

Though this may seem disappointing, it is actually the opposite. It shows that Not My Kid's work has a  positive effect on all demographic groups and that it is worth the effort to go into all kinds of communities with these prevention efforts, a very exciting and telling  fact indeed. 

Stay tuned for more results and significance in the future!!

PS I'm currently leaving for my last NFTY event EVER WOW. 

Best, 

Shir 

Combining Two Worlds

Hi All!

It's hard to believe things are starting to wrap up! Exciting things that happened this week: lots of data analysis and the long awaited GALA!!

Last week I shared with you all of the new and exciting data regarding the success of the presentation and the involvement of the school's staff.

For those of you who are versed in statistics and research, you know that in order to apply results and conclusions to a large population, your results must be what is called "statistically significant." Thanks to my wonderful regional youth group advisor's husband and the amazing notes from my time spent in AP Statistics, I was able to create a confidence interval and two-variable t-test.

As you can see.. these tedious calculations didn't exactly give me the results I necessarily wanted. The difference between the two means is not enough to say, that out of the selected population (the school's I attended and collected data from), we have evidence to say that presentations with staff support are always more successful. 

However, this doesn't mean that the results mean nothing! We still know a lot about the schools and areas we mainly work in which will allow us to improve upon our programming (more on this on a later date).

Friday was our annual Gala. As you know, the entire Not My Kid team has been working extremely hard on everything for the Gala from decorations to the silent auction to the programming for the night. Here are some pictures of the beautiful venue and decorations that came together.

Look at those amazing jars!

 Overall, the Gala went amazingly and I'm so lucky to work with such a welcoming and fun staff at Not My Kid that makes even a 15 hour day enjoyable. 

Until Next Time!

Shir

Empowerment and Teen Power

HAPPY APRIL EVERYONE!!!!

It's hard to believe that it's actually April and that my time at Not My Kid is beginning to come to a close. But before I give you some super interesting results, I promised I would update you all on my week off in Washington DC.

Last week I had the honor of attending the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Policy Conference in Washington DC, joined by 4,000 other students and 18,000 attendees. Perhaps what is most special about the work the AIPAC does, is that it is committed to being bipartisan. What does this translate to? a very diverse group of individuals joining to fight for one cause. Especially in such a heated political season, there's a lot to be said about the power of unity.

What it looks like to have 18,000 passionate people in one room. 

The three days in DC were spent going from session to session, learning about topics (such as the Iran deal, the Syrian Civil, and the role of women in US-Israel relations), hearing a myriad of speeches, lobbying our congressmen, and embracing in conversation-- the thing that truly shaped the meaning of the conference. Each person there was not only eager but willing to join in conversation on they believe we can ensure Israel's safety. And each person had a different view of how it can happen. Yet, unlike so many conversations we see today, these characterizing conversations were all united by one goal. It was this mutual goal that pushed a group of teens and I to engage in conversation on how we would react to Donald Trumps speech at the conference. It was this mutual goal that allowed us to approach our congressmen on capitol hill with confidence. And it was this mutual goal that turned what would have been a political fiasco of protest and argument elsewhere into a truly inspiring and motivating three days.

Meeting and Lobbying Congressman David Schweikert

Throughout the conference, my friends and I had the pleasure of always surprising people with our presence there as high school students (as we were the minority among the college students). So often we heard words along the lines of "oh it's so important for the youth to be here", "you are our future", and "it's so special that you all care!". Whether it came from genuine appreciation or shock that we weren't a "typical rebellious teenager", it says a lot when older generations are willing to unite with teens as well for a cause. I couldn't help but be reminded of the big picture of Not My Kid: empowerment. Just like my involvement with the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) has empowered me and given me opportunities such as attending the AIPAC conference, and just as AIPAC empowered every one of those 18,000 people with its strength through unity, Not My Kid works to empower teens to make healthy life choices. Not by talking down at them, not by yelling at them, but by showing them why these choices are important and by putting power in their own hands. And, when looking at the results of my research, it makes perfect sense that all of the results come back to empowerment. 

A couple weeks ago I mentioned a pattern I started to notice with the presence of staff support from the school and the presentations success. If you recall, I explained that the presentations ran incredibly more successfully when the school's administration, staff, and/or teachers made it a priority by 1)framing the presentation in a respectful way, 2)explaining the importance of the presentation without reprimanding the students or making them feeling (eg not saying "I know we've had these issues so you all better listen up!!!"), and 3)remaining in the room to set an example and to enforce respect. In other words, when the school is committed to empowering their students and setting them and our presentations up for success, the students were more respectful, understood the reason behind the presentations, and were more affected by the presentation. The primary data collected from observations clearly showed this pattern, and so did the secondary data. Take a look:

	Average comfort in taking issue to an adult on a scale from 1 to 5
presence of staff	staff support present	staff support not present
	3.83	3.646667
	3.95	3.775934
	3.818	4
	3.53	3.76
	4	3.85
	4	2.8285
	3.69
	3.89
	3.69
	3.419355
average	3.7817355	3.643516833

Students reported being more comfortable talking to an adult about the presentations topic (Substance abuse, suicide/depression, bullying, healthy relationships, internet safety, or body image).

	%plan to use at least 1 skill
presence of staff	staff support present	staff support not present
	0.9433962264	0.8466666667
	0.8181818182	0.9004149378
	0.9090909091	0.7333333333
	0.8571428571	0.8913043478
	0.7179487179	0.9
	0.7636363636	0.6571428571
	0.7272727273
	0.9468085106
	0.8117647059
	0.7419354839
average	0.823717832	0.8214770238

% of students who reported they plan to use at least 1 skill learned during the presentation.

	% can use voice to ask for help
presence of staff	staff support present	staff support not present
	0.8867924528	0.8466666667
	0.9090909091	0.887966805
	0.8484848485	0.8666666667
	0.9285714286	0.8260869565
	0.9230769231	0.9
	0.9215686275	0.7428571429
	0.8545454545
	0.9574468085
	0.8117647059
	0.7258064516
average	0.876714861	0.8450407063

% of students who reported they believe they can use their voice to ask for help.

	%using resources
presence of staff	staff support present	staff support not present
	0.8490566038	0.7333333333
	0.8068181818	0.867219917
	0.7878787879	0.7
	0.75	0.7934782609
	0.8717948718	0.925
	0.8235294118	0.7142857143
	0.7636363636
	0.8829787234
	0.7529411765
	0.7580645161
average	0.8046698637	0.7888862043

% of students who reported that they would feel comfortable using at least one of the resources given in the presentation.

	%think topic important
presence of staff	staff support present	staff support not present
	0.9811320755	0.88
	0.9772727273	0.9253112033
	0.9393939394	1
	1	0.8804347826
	0.9743589744	0.95
	0.9607843137	0.8571428571
	0.8909090909
	0.9468085106
	0.8470588235
	0.9193548387
average	0.9437073294	0.9154814738

% of students who reported they think the topic is important.

Consistently, students who attended presentations that were clearly supported by the school's staff reported more often that they thought the topic was important, that they feel comfortable asking for help, and that they feel comfortable using new resources. And, even if it seems that the difference is represented by a seemingly insignificant number, these percentage differences are truly significant in that they are consistent despite all other factors. Students got more out of the presentation when their administrators, staff, and teachers believed that they could. Because the school showed the students that they cared,  the students were empowered to care as well. 

The thing one has to remember about working with teens, is that often people assume the worst in us. When an school, a youth movement, a role model, or an organization like Not My Kid comes in and shows teens that they're not here to assume the worst, doors fly open with positive possibilities and opportunities.

Whether it's bringing a student like me into passionate conversations or settings as I experience last week in DC, or treating students with the utmost respect in approach to prevention methods, empowerment works.

Looking forward to sharing even more results,
Shir

Week Six: Feeling at Home!

Yet another amazing week in the books! 

With it being Spring Break for most schools around Arizona, the week was a little slower with less presentations. Nevertheless, I attended four presentations: two on substance abuse, one on healthy relationships, and another on body image.

As always it was such a pleasure to join Shane in his presentations on substance abuse (if you’ll remember I had the opportunity to hear his presentation 5 times during the presentations in Scottsdale I talked about a few weeks back).

There weren't many big surprises with the presentations this week. Though with the extra office time I was able to analyze even more surveys so that I can truly start analyzing these results.

A couple of especially cool things about the week: The office had our regular Tuesday staff meetings where each person reports on what’s been happening in their specific area. This week I had the opportunity to talk about how my research has been going and some of the conclusions that the research is leading to. It was amazing to share with the rest of the staff, and-- with a birthday in the office, my supervisors baby crawling around, and a lot more glittering (and now spray painting!) to prep for the Gala—Tuesday was an awesome day.

On another note, next week is Spring Break!!! (Which isn’t nearly as exciting when you don’t go to school anymore) But… it is this time. I’m very excited and blessed to be attending the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC next week. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. Every year in Washington, DC they hold an event called Policy Conference (PC), which attracts over fifteen thousand pro-Israel advocates from across the world. PC is the largest gathering of America’s pro-Israel community. Through demonstrations of groundbreaking Israeli innovations, keynote speeches by American and Israeli leaders, inspiring moments on stage, and intimate educational sessions, Policy Conference delegates such as me experience the full scale of pro-Israel activism in three powerful days. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to see keynote speakers such as Vice President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (via satellite), Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and the leading presidential candidates. This amazing opportunity plus some snow in DC is sure to make for an amazing experience and the perfect way to spend any week. 

See you soon!

Shir

Results?? Part One of Many

Hello all!

It is the end of week five and we are officially at the half way point! This week was another busy week but for sure much more calm! I attended five presentations: three student and two adult, all which had a specific interesting aspect to them. However, this week on the blog I won't be talking about my week's presentations. The past few weeks I've been talking about what I've been doing to collect data and what that has looked like. This week we are going to start talking about what all of these observations and surveys are adding up too!

Oh don't get to excited...

I'm not going to be giving up all the results that easy...

Good try though...

No today we are going to talk about one question on the survey which asks: "I feel like I can relate to this topic: Yes, No Opinion, No"

First I have to give some background on how I analyze the surveys. Since the surveys are simply on a sheet of paper (not a scantron or any computer system because... well... we are a non profit (though we are looking into changing this for the future, an exciting development!)), I have to analyze the surveys by hand. Yes, you guessed it, this means counting by hand how many people said yes to each question and how many people said no opinion or no. I then take a percentage of the total of surveys completed for the presentation (Key word completed) and report that in the results.

For this first question, "I feel like I can relate to this topic", so far the results have been pretty consistent with how successful the presentation seemed to be just from the primary data (check back to the introduction blog posts for an explanation on the primary data). However, after analyzing this question for the set of high school presentations-- at the very wealthy/well off high school and  other wise successful presentation I spoke about last week-- the results were for this question were inconsistent with the rest of the results. In fact, on average between the 7 presentations, the average percent of students who answered yes was .20009 which is extremely low considering how successful the presentations were.

The question is why???

There a couple reasons that could explain this
1) The presentation was about substance abuse. Answering yes to the question may seem to high schoolers as if they are admitting to using substances.
2) The substance abuse presentations involve very hard and intense substances. High schoolers may think, "well I never considering using a hard drug like that so no, I don't relate."

It's certainly interesting. Keep reading for even more results!

On another note I enjoyed helping prepare for the Gala coming up in April with some crafting!

I'm quite the master glitter-er if I may say so myself!!

Until next time!!

Shir

The Power of Authority

And thus week four comes to an end!

Hello all!

It has certainly been a busy week! This week I attended 10 presentations (I wasn't lying when I said busy!). Ranging from a high school in Arizona's most wealthy zip code to a Title 1 elementary school in Phoenix, the week provided a wide range of presentations and certainly a lot to think about. In this post I am going to focus on one factor in particular that really surfaced this past week. For the time being, I will still be leaving specific school names out of these blog posts but I will nevertheless give us much detail as I can to make this as interesting as possible.

On Thursday I attended 6 presentations back to back at a High School in Arizona's wealthiest zip code. This particular zip code ranks number 8 in highest graduation rate and faces few of the problems most other schools face. In the past presentations I've attended of schools that are on the upper end of the socioeconomic scale, the administrators very apparently seem less grateful for the presentations. Thus, they are less invested in the presentation and don't make as much of an effort to ensure that the presentation goes well. However, this particular high school did not fall into the trap of ingratitude. Rather, perhaps more than in any other school, the administration was very invested in making sure the students behaved during the presentation.

During 4 of the 6 presentations an administrator/official made it a point to introduce both the presenter and I and firmly, though kindly, told students to put their phones away and put their backpacks on the floor.  Saying, "I wouldn't ask you to put your phones away and devote your attention to this unless I truly thought it was an important topic", the administrator perfectly set the tone. And the results were immediately apparent. In fact, only during the two presentations in which the administrator was not present did the students get rowdy, a huge feat considering we are asking of freshman in high school to pay attention and be respectful for a whole hour.

I think this says a lot to the power of the authority in schools. When the authority took the time to stand up and say that this is important to them and to recognize that they are asking a lot but are asking it for a good reason, the students responded positively. It's a huge factor in ensuring that students are receptive to the presentation. And more over, it allowed the presenter to focus solely on the presentation and the story, rather than worrying about keeping the students (and in some truly frustrating cases the teachers!) from being rowdy.

Stay tuned for more news!

Until next time,
Shir

Let's Talk About Presentations!

Hi all!! Wow. What, a, week.

I began my week visiting the University of Southern California, which was a very very fun experience. I really enjoyed getting to know the campus better, and it’s incredible to start see the intense college process become something real (no matter the college). I spent Monday and Tuesday in the warm and beautiful eighty degree weather of Los Angeles, and, with a big weekend currently happening (which I will explain later), that left me with only two days to work. Do the math and that leads to two 8 hour work days. Woo!!!

I started Wednesday bright and early (and I mean early because I was on the road at seven) off on my way to Chandler. Once I made it out there I had the pleasure of attending two presentations, both on substance abuse. I know a lot of you asked about what is included in the presentations, so now I can give you more information! They often include personal stories from the presenters if it is applicable. The presentations very based on topic but always include coping mechanisms and resources. These coping mechanisms include sports, ways to stay healthy, hobbies, people to surround yourself with, and mental health tips. The resources always include other people to reach out to. Who? Teen life line, the texting line of teen life line, Not My Kid, and a few others.

I really enjoyed attending my first presentations. The presenter was very inspiring and did an incredible job engaging both of the groups. Afterwords I drove to a much less affluent part of Phoenix for a presentation on bullying. This presentation also included a personal story, and, even in just the initial observations, it was immediately clear that the presentation had a much different affect on this group.

On Thursday, I again started my morning with a  presentation in a very affluent part of Phoenix. The presentation was pretty much a bust, which, in the grand scheme of my research, is very interesting and actually gives a great amount of data. For one, it was interesting to see how the teachers were very unsupportive at this school. Secondly, this was a huge group, about 4 times the size of the other presentations. And third, this school was very nice. I’m very eager at analyze the results.

The most interesting presentation though was certainly the Thursday night one, a presentation on suicide, depression, and self-harm. This school was in the same district as Independence high school, which, if you remember, recently had a very real and tragic encounter with suicide. This particular presentation unlike the others was a  parent presentation. They were very very invested and had very emotional reactions. The questions they asked truly opened my eyes and this whole experience really has already started to do so.

I’m looking forward to seeing where all of the data leads. Until next time!!

A Complicated World of Preparation

Hello all!

As week two comes to a close, I am extremely excited to share all about my new adventures during my first week out in the real world. I started my long-awaited internship on Tuesday with Not My Kid and could not have asked for a better start. From meeting the incredibly smart, witty, and kind staff, to getting acclimated in my new environment, I am so grateful to have been welcoming with open arms into the Not My Kid family and cannot wait for the rest of this journey. To give you an idea of how warm of an environment Not My Kid is, here are some photos of the office space during which I spend my time if I'm not out on the field during presentations:

This week was all about preparation, and, in such a complicated field like prevention, there was certainly a lot to do. After figuring out which presentations I would be attending and collection both primary and secondary data from (through both surveys and observation data), the next step was figuring out how the results would be analyzed so that the research could provide viable results. That is, the question became "How do we group the schools into specific characteristic groups that will allow us to find correlations in the data?" And, although I would have loved to been able to say "this school is in X city which means it has X risk factors and X protection factors," this task is much more complicated.  

Just some AP stats for you today, this research all culminates in an observational study. That is, no variables are being controlled in the study, rather we are looking back at every piece of information we have in order to find connections and inferences that will give us insight on how to best effect the lives of these teens. Which essentially means it is IMPERATIVE that all the data be carefully collected and recorded and organized, a task I have a whole new level of respect for. This also means that graphs and charts are my new best friend as I've spent most of this week engrossed in creating and organizing them for the next couple of months.

I began by grouping schools by zip code. This allowed me to analyze risk factors such as graduation rates and average household income. By comparing both their ranking in Arizona on a basis of graduation rate and average household income, I was then able to further categorize the schools, grouping them with ones of similar risk status. From there, careful consideration of school district and location/proximity resulted in the following 6 groups.  

It was vital to group them together for a couple of reasons. First, the groups will allow me to approach each school and presentation knowing general characteristics and risk factors of the area. Secondly, I will not be able to collect significantly more data on the risk and protection factors prevalent in each school. That is, the groupings allow me get data from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission based on the groupings of the zip codes. Finally, this grouping will be an essential part in organizing the data, allowing me to compare the results from each presentation (with both the primary and secondary data) and to analyze the factors determining the effectiveness of the program.

Overall, it's been a great busy week. There was one hiccup in the road which ended up being quite an exciting learning experience as well. Aside from counting endless piles of surveys for the upcoming month (see below)

 I was scheduled to attend my first presentation this past Wednesday. More to come on this experience later (as I will be visiting this school again in the upcoming month), but the presentation ended up being a no show, a valuable lesson to learn when you are in the field of public work. However, it was a great experience regardless and it can only go up from here! No, but really, we are spending extra time analyzing the area surrounding this particular school and are really hoping this research can make a difference there. 

beautiful set up right?

All in all, it has been an incredible and productive first week. Preliminary data is organized, there is a clear plan for action, and I cannot wait to collect these new rounds of data in the upcoming weeks. 

Until next time!

Shir

Drug Prevention: What Research Has Been Done in the Past?

Hello all! 

It’s been a beautiful week here in sunny Arizona, and it’s been a great week to spend some time catching up on research before I head into my internship with Not My Kid on Tuesday! As I explained in my last blog post, Not My Kid educates and works on preventing several types of risky teen behavior, ranging from unhealthy relationships, drug abuse, and self-harm. However, I decided to spend the week delving into researching previous prevention methods and past research on the effectiveness of drug prevention methods. 

It’s first important to remember why my research, which not only evaluates Not My Kid’s effectiveness, but also compares the effectiveness across different demographics of teens, is relevant. According to studies conducted by the National Academy Press in Washington DC,

“The potential impact of specific risk and protective factors changes with age. For example, risk factors within the family have greater impact on a younger child, while association with drug-abusing peers may be a more significant risk factor for an adolescent”(National Institution on Drug Abuse).

Following this, it is imperative that we compare age groups in the success of the prevention method. That is, because risk factors have a more prevalent impact on younger individuals the question then follows, are educational prevention methods more or less effective with individuals more at risk. The hope, of course, is that, although these individuals are more at risk, they are also more receptive to the prevention methods and more positively affected by them, a hope which raises the states on the results of my research. The same follows for gender, ethnicity, culture, and environment as is supported by research conducted by Moon, Hecht, Jackson, & Spellers. Keeping these factors in mind, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, backed by extensive research of their own, proposes that “successful prevention programs” must not only be tailored to the age, gender, ethnicity, culture, and environment/community but must also address the use of both legal and illegal substances. The National Institute on Drug Abuse then spends some time focusing on family programming. However, because Not My Kid is focused on separate teen and adult programming, I chose to continue my research in finding what they suggest should make a prevention program successful. I found that research has shown that successful programming for teens should address “study habits and academic support; communication; peer relationships; self-efficacy and assertiveness; drug resistance skills; reinforcement of anti-drug attitudes; and strengthening of personal commitments against drug abuse” (National Institution on Drug Abuse). Not surprisingly, most research done in the past on effective prevention programs, leads to similar conclusions on teen engagement, something I’ve been fortunate to work extensively with as an active leader in the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). Sources speak of being interactive, allowing role play, and adapting to audiences, all basic principles of engagement. Other programs centered on drug prevention have found success in different ways. For example, the Classroom-Centered (CC) and Family-School Partnership (FSP) Intervention, a program centered in the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has found success in integrating parents into the program and by extending their efforts to the classroom. Lions-Quest Skills for Adolescence (SFA), an organization centered in Washington DC takes a similar approach to that reflected in Not My Kid’s mission statement: boosting the self-esteem and feeling of responsibility in teens. Organizations like these fall under the category of research based prevention methods and I look forward to finding out more about what has made them successful, thus giving me the ability to compare the results of my research to the results of others’.

It’s been a great week and I can’t wait to get delve into the project more on Tuesday! I’ll be heading to the cold tundra of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin for a North American Youth Leadership Conference, so wish me luck as I attempt to tackle 5 degree weather! Stay tuned for next week! Shir Works Cited Robertson, Elizabeth B., Ph.D., Susan L. David, M.H.P, and Suman A. Rao, Ph.D. "Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents (In Brief)." National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

Moon, D.; Hecht, M.; Jackson, K.; and Spellers, R. Ethnic and gender differences and similarities in adolescent drug use and refusals of drug offers. Substance Use and Misuse34(8):1059–1083, 1999.

Gerstein, D.R. and Green, L.W., eds. Preventing Drug Abuse: What Do We Know? Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1993.

Risky Teen Behavior: What Are We Doing Right and What Can We Improve?

Hi all, 

Welcome to Audience Engagement: The Key to Successful Prevention Methods. My name is Shir Attias. I'm currently a senior at BASIS Scottsdale. When I'm not at school, or, as of February, pursuing my Senior Research Project, I spend most of my days at my dance studio, Diverse Elements, where I am a member of the Elite Competition Team. Aside from dance, I am heavily involved with the North American Federation of Temple Youth, where I currently serve as the Religious and Cultural Vice President of the Southwest Region. I'm almost as obsessed with fried rice and coffee ice cream as I am with Grey's Anatomy. Small communities are definitely my thing. I'm very lucky to have found home in the intimate Jewish community and in my small (but mighty) graduating class of 86 seniors at BASIS Scottsdale. Thus, giving back to the community is an integral part of my life, and I'm looking forward to continuing to do so through my Senior Research Project (SRP). 

You may be asking yourself "What is this SRP she keeps talking about?" 

Starting the closing of my last trimester of senior year, I will begin interning with Not My Kid, a non-profit in Phoenix, Arizona who's mission is to "empower and educate youth, families, and communities with the knowledge and courage to identify and prevent negative youth behavior". If you would like more information about Not My Kid, feel free to head to their website http://notmykid.org/ .

As an intern for Not My Kid, I will be working closely with the staff and volunteers to help put on presentations around Arizona and to conduct research both in the office and at the sites of the presentations. While in the office, I will be doing an in-depth review of the current research and relevant literature that has been done regarding what makes prevention presentations effective. At the presentations, I will be observing the teens and adults reactions to each presentation, and recording observations so that I may compare each presentation. Additionally, I will be administering surveys both before the presentation and after the presentation.  The pre-presentation survey will assess how receptive the participants are before the presentation and will, collect data on the participant's’ age, gender, background, socioeconomic status, identification, etc. The post-presentation survey will re-assess what effect the presentation had on the participants. Thus, two levels of research will be conducted. One will measure receptiveness and engagements and the other will gather data on demographic information, knowledge gained from the presentation, and the likelihood that the participant thinks they will engage in future risky behavior.  By the end of my internship and research, I will produce a thoughtful and cohesive presentation explaining what factors make preventative intervention presentations most effective and which topics were most successful.

If you would like more information regarding the methodology or purpose of my research, my Senior Research Project Proposal can be found here .

I'm incredibly excited to start immersing myself in this project and can't wait to share it with all of you as I delve into it over the next three months.

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