Core 2 - ARSC

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ABSTRACT – CORE 002: Adolescent Research Support Core Conducting adolescent tobacco use research is inherently complex and logistically challenging. Researchers must address complex issues with informed assent and parental consent, while considering stakeholder interest in the dissemination of study findings when the research involves youth-serving organizations, such as schools. Project MARVEL consists of a partnership with a large school district and four innovative projects involving research with adolescent participants. A critical component in MARVEL’s implementation is successfully facilitating the proposed research with a large number of adolescents from multiple schools and maintaining participant engagement across projects over time. Addressing these implementation areas is the focus of the Adolescent Research Support Core (ARSC). ARSC’s mission is to provide a centralized infrastructure grounded in best practices for adolescent research, with input from stakeholders, to help each project address the complexities associated with conducting adolescent research. This core will oversee the critical functions of recruitment, enrollment, and retention for each project, facilitate participant confidentiality, provide health and well-being resources for participants, and translate scientific findings into lay language for non-academic audiences. The ARSC will use evidence-based approaches, such as community engagement, to establish two advisory boards, one comprised of adolescents and one of key stakeholders. The boards will provide input on school engagement, recruitment and retention of adolescent participants, participant confidentiality, and translation of scientific findings. School engagement will be centrally managed by ARSC and will include collaborating with a point-person at each high school to inform parents/guardians and students about MARVEL; coordinating the implementation of two district-wide, in-class screener surveys; and centralizing the process for obtaining district-level approvals for conducting the studies. The ARSC will organize adolescent recruitment, enrollment, and retention activities. Importantly, the ARSC will implement procedures to ensure protection of participant confidentiality and identify and address emotional and behavioral concerns, if they arise during data collection. To maximize data collection efficiency and quality, the ARSC will manage a team of study coordinators, allocated across projects based on project needs. Each laboratory participant will be paired with a coordinator to provide a consistent point-person to minimize attrition. The ARSC, led by a strong, multi-disciplinary team with extensive experience conducting research with adolescents in schools and other community and laboratory settings, is a critical component of Project MARVEL. The ARSC will collaborate with the other Cores to fully support the four research projects, coordinating essential services to maximize efficiency while engaging community stakeholders and centrally managing school engagement and the recruitment and retention of adolescent research participants.