Jul 31, 2015 11:05 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

A national coalition of experts aims to reduce youth problems by 20 percent in a decade.

The group's paper, recently published on the National Academy of Medicine website, suggests evidence-based prevention programs on a national scale to reduce a host of problems ranging from drinking to delinquent behavior, anxiety and risky driving.

"So much of what we do is to wait until there are big problems, then we start intervening," David Hawkins, lead author of the paper and the founding director of the Social Development Research Group, an organization within the University of Washington's School of Social Work, said in a statement. "As consumers of programs that are costing public money, we need to ask, 'What's the scientific evidence that this works?'"

The paper sets two overarching goals: to cut behavioral health problems among young people by 20 percent in the next decade, and also reduce the disproportionately higher rates of those problems among disadvantaged youth by the same amount. It lays out seven steps for achieving those targets, ranging from investing 10 percent of all public funds spent on young people in effective prevention programs to creating strategies to develop a new cadre of prevention workers.

The coalition, which has more than 60 members from a range of disciplines, has started forming committees to address the seven goals. One group is putting together curricula to train prevention workers, while another is working with state leaders to develop systems to promote and implement effective prevention programs.

According to Hawkins, the success of the effort will rely on buy-in from states and organizations across the country. He hopes the initiative can garner endorsement from a few high-profile leaders, and ideally, a foundation or corporation that could help cover implementation costs.

"What we're trying to do is build interest and enthusiasm," he said. "We're saying, 'Look, we need to work together across disciplines and organizations to really take these things to scale."

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