Reina Evans: Promoting Community Outreach Through Academic Research

As 2020 comes to an end, CFACE would like to take time to reflect on the many accomplishments achieved by a talented graduate student with whom we had the pleasure to collaborate and support this year.

Reina Evans is a doctoral student in the Applied Social and Community Psychology Program at NC State. With an interest in mental and physical health intervention, Reina’s research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of sex education in relation to sexual risk and satisfaction within college students and adolescents. 

CFACE was honored to take part in sponsoring some of Reina’s most recent publications. Funding provided by CFACE, gave Reina the ability to travel to community sites, and purchase the meta-analysis software needed to collect and analyze data to support the following studies:

Association of Sexual Health Interventions with Sexual Health Outcomes in Black Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (JAMA Pediatrics, 2020).

• In this study, the authors found that across 29 studies with 11,918 Black adolescents, sexual health interventions effectively increased abstinence and condom use.  

Preliminary Evaluation of a Prescription Opioid Misuse Prevention Program Among Rural Middle School Students (Journal of Community Health, 2020). 

• For this study, a multidisciplinary team of researchers and trainers from CFACE, NC State Department of Psychology, and UNC implemented an opioid misuse prevention program with over 700 middle school students in a rural county. At the conclusion of the program, we found that over 80% of students liked the program, and reported feeling more confident in their abilities to avoid prescription opioid misuse. Additionally, students noted improvements in their knowledge of prescription opioids. 

Sexual Health Programs for Latinx Adolescents: A Meta-analysis (Pediatrics, 2020).

• In this study, the authors found that across 12 studies with 4,673 Latinx adolescents, sexual health interventions were effective at increasing abstinence and condom use, as well as decreasing adolescents’ number of sex partners. Importantly, interventions that were tailored to the unique culture and experiences of Latinx adolescents were more effective at encouraging condom use than interventions that were not tailored. A brief abstract of this study can be viewed in the video found on the Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics website.  

CFACE would like to congratulate Reina on her outstanding accomplishments this year. We look forward to supporting more graduate research in the new year!