First in flight: Population-level prevention in Ohio

08/01/2025 | PAXIS Institute |

Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) sponsored the first statewide scale-up of the PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG) and its related classroom-based universal prevention components as a part of the Ohio Cures initiative from 2017-2019. This was a part of the state and federal effort to prevent factors contributing to the opioid epidemic. The state of Ohio demonstrates a distinct need to prevent the onset of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders that develop in early childhood and school-age children. These disorders represent a serious threat to the public health of the state as well as the single greatest expense to Medicaid and private insurance for pediatric health care. This need is compounded by the impact of the opioid epidemic in Ohio, which ranks second nationally in opioid overdose deaths. This project resulted in the training of over 8,500 educational professionals in universal prevention and noted immediate improvements in student behavior and teacher wellness along with statistically significant improvement in workplace skills and efficacy.

Citation: Fruth, Jason. (2024). FIRST IN FLIGHT: POPULATION-LEVEL PREVENTION IN OHIO. International Educational Scientific Research Journal. 10. 4.

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