1 | P a g e GPH 747 Current Efforts Assignment Sample Submit one document with steps 1 – 5 in order. 1. Determine the inclusion criteria for the papers that you want to use to write this section. 2. Create a flow chart of the search process (there is no minimum # of articles that should be used to write the introduction, but you must review at least 15 abstracts). 3. Write your reasons for excluding or selecting the articles in the respective tables. 4. Create an outline 5. Write the current efforts section. 2 | P a g e Availability of Mental Health Screening for youth in clinics across Harris County, TX Step1: Inclusion criteria These are the characteristics of the papers that will be included in the current efforts section of my paper: i. Studies conducted in the US ii. Quantitative or Qualitative research methods iii. Focused on adolescents 12 – 21 years old iv. Papers written on the following topics: • Mental health screening programs for all ages in Harris Co. • Costs of screening • Strengths and limitations of screening procedures • Use of websites and social media to promote mental health 3 | P a g e Step 2: Flowchart (You can provide this information as a table) List of excluded abstracts: 1. Golzari M, Hunt SJ, Chamberlain LJ. Role of pediatricians as advocates for incarcerated youth. Pediatrics. 2008;121(2):e397-e398. 2. Golzari M, Kuo A. Healthcare utilization and barriers for youth post-detention. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2013;25(1):65-67. 3. Gupta RA, Kelleher KJ, Pajer K, Stevens J, Cuellar A. Delinquent youth in corrections: Medicaid and reentry into the community. Pediatrics. 2005;115(4):1077-1083. 4. Jacobs F, Oliveri R, Greenstone J, Miranda-Julian C. Massachusetts health passport project evaluation final report. Medford, MA: Tufts University. 2009. Number of full text articles reviewed = 10 Number of studies that met inclusion criteria = 8 Number of abstracts reviewed = 15 Number of abstracts excluded = 5 Number of full text articles excluded = 2 4 | P a g e 5. Martinez J, Bell D, Dodds S, et al. Transitioning youths into care: Linking identified HIV- infected youth at outreach sites in the community to hospital-based clinics and or community-based health centers. J Adolesc Health. 2003;33(2):23-30. List of full text articles excluded: 1. Martinez J, Bell D, Dodds S, et al. Transitioning youths into care: Linking identified HIV- infected youth at outreach sites in the community to hospital-based clinics and or community-based health centers. J Adolesc Health. 2003;33(2):23-30. 2. Friedman RA. Uncovering an epidemic—screening for mental illness in teens. N Engl J Med. 2006;355(26):2717-2719. List of papers to be used in the article: 1. Ballard ED, Bosk A, Snyder D, et al. Patients' opinions about suicide screening in a pediatric emergency department. Pedi.

1. 1 | P a g e
GPH 747
Current Efforts Assignment
Sample
Submit one document with steps 1 – 5 in order.
1. Determine the inclusion criteria for the papers that you want
to use to write this
section.
2. Create a flow chart of the search process (there is no
minimum # of articles that should
be used to write the introduction, but you must review at least
15 abstracts).
3. Write your reasons for excluding or selecting the articles in
the respective tables.
4. Create an outline
5. Write the current efforts section.

2. 2 | P a g e
Availability of Mental Health Screening for youth in clinics
across Harris County, TX
Step1:
Inclusion criteria
These are the characteristics of the papers that will be included
in the current efforts section of
my paper:
i. Studies conducted in the US
ii. Quantitative or Qualitative research methods
iii. Focused on adolescents 12 – 21 years old
iv. Papers written on the following topics:
• Mental health screening programs for all ages in Harris Co.
• Costs of screening
• Strengths and limitations of screening procedures

3. • Use of websites and social media to promote mental health
3 | P a g e
Step 2:
Flowchart (You can provide this information as a table)
List of excluded abstracts:
1. Golzari M, Hunt SJ, Chamberlain LJ. Role of pediatricians as
advocates for incarcerated
youth. Pediatrics. 2008;121(2):e397-e398.
2. Golzari M, Kuo A. Healthcare utilization and barriers for
youth post-detention. Int J
Adolesc Med Health. 2013;25(1):65-67.

4. 3. Gupta RA, Kelleher KJ, Pajer K, Stevens J, Cuellar A.
Delinquent youth in corrections:
Medicaid and reentry into the community. Pediatrics.
2005;115(4):1077-1083.
4. Jacobs F, Oliveri R, Greenstone J, Miranda-Julian C.
Massachusetts health passport
project evaluation final report. Medford, MA: Tufts University.
2009.
Number of full text articles
reviewed = 10
Number of studies that met
inclusion criteria = 8
Number of abstracts reviewed =
15
Number of abstracts
excluded = 5
Number of full text
articles excluded = 2
4 | P a g e

5. 5. Martinez J, Bell D, Dodds S, et al. Transitioning youths into
care: Linking identified HIV-
infected youth at outreach sites in the community to hospital-
based clinics and or
community-based health centers. J Adolesc Health.
2003;33(2):23-30.
List of full text articles excluded:
1. Martinez J, Bell D, Dodds S, et al. Transitioning youths into
care: Linking identified HIV-
infected youth at outreach sites in the community to hospital-
based clinics and or
community-based health centers. J Adolesc Health.
2003;33(2):23-30.
2. Friedman RA. Uncovering an epidemic—screening for mental
illness in teens. N Engl J
Med. 2006;355(26):2717-2719.
List of papers to be used in the article:
1. Ballard ED, Bosk A, Snyder D, et al. Patients' opinions about
suicide screening in a
pediatric emergency department. Pediatr Emerg Care.
2012;28(1):34-38.
2. Buckelew SM, Yu J, English A, Brindis CD. Innovations in
preventive mental health care

6. services for adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2008;42(5):519-525.
3. Davidson L, Ridgway P, Kidd S, Topor A, Borg M. Using
qualitative research to inform
mental health policy. Can J Psychiatry. 2008;53(3):137-144.
4. McCarthy J, Downes EJ, Sherman CA. Looking back at
adolescent depression: A
qualitative study. J Ment Health Couns. 2008;30(1):49-66.
5. Ott MA, Rosenberger JG, McBride KR, Woodcox SG. How
do adolescents view health?
Implications for state health policy. J Adolesc Health.
2011;48(4):398-403.
5 | P a g e
6. Pryjmachuk S, Graham T, Haddad M, Tylee A. School
nurses? Perspectives on managing
mental health problems in children and young people. J Clin
Nurs. 2012;21(5-6):850-859.
7. Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas drug facts
among youth.
https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa-decision-support.aspx.
Updated March 14, 2014.

7. Accessed July 24, 2014.
8. Van Cleave J, Morales DR, Perrin JM. Pediatric response to
court-mandated Medicaid
behavioral screening in Massachusetts. J Dev Behav Pediatr.
2013;34(5):335-343.
https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mhsa-decision-support.aspx
6 | P a g e
Step 3:
Reasons for exclusion (These are only examples. Provide your
own reasons)
Reasons for exclusion of the abstract Reasons for exclusion of
full text article
Paper #1: This paper is about mental health

8. screening, but among the elderly population in
Harris Co.
Paper #1: This paper is on screening youth for
mental illness but it was published in 1988.
Paper #2: This article is not about screening for
mental illness, but about screening movies
Paper #2: This is not a real research study, but
an editorial
Paper #3: The purpose of the study is not clear
from the abstract
Paper #3:
Paper #4: This study was conducted in China Paper #4:
Paper #5: This paper was published 12 years ago Paper #5
Reasons for including websites/government reports in the
introduction of the paper
(Only complete if websites were included in the bibliography).
Website #1: Information about the HealthyMind program is only
available on their website.

9. Website #2:
7 | P a g e
Step 4:
Outline (This is only an example. Provide an outline for your
own paper)
• Introduction
• List of programs at the forefront of providing screening in
Texas and in the US
• Screening programs by type of mental illness
• Strengths and limitations of each program discussed
• Pertinent information from research that has been conducted
on screening practices in
Texas and in the US
Step 5:
Current Efforts section

10. Write your 4 – 5 page current efforts section.
Learning Outcome
Evaluate work that has already been done to solve a specified
public health problem.
Assignment
Discuss what others have done to address the public health issue
of Cyber Addiction in Adolescents in the United States (age
range 10-19 years old). The discussion should include programs
that currently exist in the US that focus on solving this public
health problem. Include a discussion of the strengths and
limitations of the programs.
Your discussion of current efforts should also include
information about research that has been conducted in the same
community or a similar demographic, that is targeted at solving
the problem. It should include a description of any knowledge
or policy gaps. This does not need to be a comprehensive
overview of all current efforts. The program limitations,
research gaps and policy gaps identified in this assignment will
be basis for your proposed intervention(s).
Before you can write a comprehensive current efforts section,
you need to be familiar with what programs and researchers
have already done to solve the problem. As you did with the
introduction assignment, do a search of public health databases
such as PubMed, Academic Search Complete, and Google
Scholar to find articles on programs and research that have been
done to solve the problem.
This assignment has 5 steps: *See the attached document for
formatting examples
Submit one document with steps 1 – 5 in order:

11. 1. Determine the inclusion criteria for the papers that you want
to use to write this section.
2. Create a flowchart of the search process (there is no
minimum # of articles that should be used to write the current
efforts, but you must review at least 15 abstracts).
3. Write your reasons for excluding the articles in the respective
tables.
4. Create and outline
5. Write the current efforts section (Start with an outline of
what you plan to cover in your paper).
Assignment Submission Requirements
· 4-5 pages, 12 pt font, double-spaced
· Use relevant references to support your arguments
Rubric
Inclusion Criteria and Flowchart
Completed all boxes in the flow chart correctly, including
inclusion criteria and reasons for exclusion of articles.
Abstracts searched
Reviewed a minimum of 15 abstracts from peer reviewed
articles
Paper Outline
Creates a clear outline that demonstrates a logical order of
information or clearly groups similar ideas together.
Current Efforts
Clearly describes how others have addressed the issue in the
community or population of interest. Discusses the strengths
and limitations associated with each current effort described,
using relevant references.
Research, knowledge gaps, and policy gaps
Discusses what research has been done on the topic using
relevant references.
Writing Quality
Free of spelling errors and uses good grammar, uses good
sentence structure throughout and written content flows well
Bibliography (AMA style)
Provides in-text citations for data and statements of fact.

12. References are from peer reviewed journals, in proper AMA
style including author names, article title, journal abbreviation,
and punctuation. No more than 10% of references are from
websites/government reports.