American Pediatric Society: Building the Evidence Base to Improve Pediatric Care for Youth in Custody Conference - PROJECT SUMMARY Youth in custody face significant health challenges, including high rates of sexual and reproductive health issues, substance use disorders, chronic medical conditions, and poor quality of care, leading to preventable morbidity and mortality. These issues are exacerbated by substandard healthcare and a lack of evidence- based guidelines. The proposed “American Pediatric Society: Building the Evidence Base to Improve Pediatric Care for Youth in Custody Conference” aims to address these gaps by establishing a research network focused on improving healthcare for youth in custody. Aim 1 will identify barriers to evidence-based care for youth in custody, focusing on behavioral health and chronic diseases such as asthma and sickle cell disease. Aim 2 activities will result in the development of collaborative multi-center investigator teams that close research gaps in youth carceral healthcare, utilizing a mentorship model to support early career researchers. The conference is scheduled for April 2025 in Honolulu, Hawaii, adjacent to the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting, leveraging a pre-existing meeting. The conference grant will include pre-workshop activities to identify key barriers and workshop sessions to further illuminate key barriers and develop priority strategies to support early initiation of a research network. The conference will leverage recent initiatives by the American Pediatric Society (APS) and partnerships with organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative. The main impact of the conference is that it will lay the groundwork for the establishment of the APS-KIDS (Kids in Detention Services) Pediatric Research Network, aimed at improving health outcomes for youth in custody. Expected outcomes include published recommendations, development of research teams, and establishment of infrastructure for future NIH grant submissions. The conference activities will also support the careers of diverse early career researchers.
