Prior to coming to the University of Arizona, Dr. Bosworth’s work focused on prevention specific adolescent risk taking behaviors through computer-based, multimedia venues. In the 1980’s at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked with a team to create the Body Awareness Resource Network (BARN) covering several health topics with information, games and simulations, one of which was alcohol and other drug prevention. Later at Indiana University, she developed SMART TEAM (Students Managing Anger and Resolution Together) based on the educational strategies developed in BARN.
In 2015, she was recruited to join a team of prevention researchers and developers to create the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC), funded by the US State Department. UPC synthesized current youth substance use prevention knowledge into training modules to expand the prevention workforce worldwide. Dr. Bosworth led the team to develop the school-based prevention module and trained trainers in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe.
Dr. Bosworth edited a volume in the Springer publishers series on Advances in Prevention Science titled: Prevention Science in School Settings; Complex Relationships and Process.
Multimedia: Body Awareness Resource Network (BARN)
The long- and short-term consequences of youth substance use have propelled scientists and educators to develop strategies to facilitate youth adopting healthy lifestyles that do not include the experimentation or heavier use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Dr. Bosworth was a pioneer in developing a computer-based multimedia intervention to prevent youth substance use and abuse in the 1980s, with colleagues Dr. David Gustafson and Dr. Robert Hawkins (at the Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Maddison).
With generous funding from the WK Kellogg Foundation, Bosworth was part of a team that developed an interactive computer-based health information system known as the Body Awareness Resource Network (BARN) which provided youth, via interactive computer activities and games, information about the risks and consequences of substance use and other health-compromising behaviors such as smoking, stress, poor nutrition, and unsafe sexual activity. She was the developer of the drug prevention section and co-developer on stress management and smoking.
This award-winning system was based on the popular assumption that youth lacked information about the consequences of various activities and with the information on these consequences, youth would choose safer options. Although this assumption did not take into account the predisposition of adolescents to experiment and, in fact, take risks, the research on the BARN system did, however, show impact in a number of ways, such as fewer cigarettes being used, fewer occasions when teens participated in high-risk drinking, and increased use of safer sex practices.
Multimedia: Students Managing Anger and Resolution Together (SMART Team)
At Indiana University, Dr. Bosworth leveraged her expertise in designing interactive technology applications for youth to develop SMART Team (Students Managing Anger and Resolution Together), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
SMART Team is a multimedia computer software program designed to teach violence prevention strategies to middle school students. Students can access the modules independently for information, skill-building practice, or resolving a conflict. The program’s content fits well with commonly used conflict-mediation curricula and other violence prevention strategies schools may implement. It is marketed by Learning Multisystems.
In a randomized trial, significant results included students reporting increased prosocial behavior, intention to use non-violent strategies in conflict situations, and reduction in “getting into trouble.” SMART Team received the following recognition:
United States Department of Education, Promising Program for Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools, 2001.
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Exemplary Model Program Award, 1999, 2000.
Workforce Development Curriculum: Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC)
More recently, Dr. Bosworth was the school prevention expert on a team in prevention sciences that was tapped by the United States State Department through the Applied Prevention Science International (APSI) to develop a Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) in six areas, including schools. Based on the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2013, UPC was designed to provide knowledge of prevention science and its application to the effective delivery of prevention interventions and equip prevention practitioners with the requisite skills to implement effective evidence-based prevention programs in their respective settings. Dr. Bosworth lead a team (Joyce Phelps and Dr. Maryann Judkins) that developed school-based training for educators.
Dr. Bosworth has been involved extensively in international training for this curriculum, including training in Mexico City; Bangkok, Thailand; São Paulo, Brazil; Sri Lanka; and numerous locations throughout the United States.