Suchergebnisse

The authors examined differences between students with and without written parental consent to take part in a sensitive health survey. The data were collected using a consent procedure combining "active" and "passive" response options. Two thousand seven hundred five 9th and 12th graders whose parents provided written consent completed a full survey. An identical survey, without sex-related questions, was completed by 3,533 students whose parents gave "passive" consent to this less sensitive version. Students with written consent were more likely to be White, to live in two-parent households, to have a grade point average of B or above, and to be involved in extracurricular activities. They were also more likely to have been exposed to health promotion interventions. Irregular seat belt use was lower in the written-consent group at both grade levels. Among 9th graders, cigarette smoking was less prevalent in the written-consent group. There were no significant differences in alcohol or illicit drug use.

Researchers doing school surveys of adolescent health behavior frequently provide feedback reports to the schools summarizing the survey results, but it is not generally known how useful this information is for the recipients. The authors conducted a survey of 43 high school principals in 11 communities about the usefulness of feedback reports generated from data collected as part of the evaluation of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's Community Health Promotion Grants Program. The results of the survey suggest that principals found the reports to be extremely valuable: The reports were distributed widely among staff, parents, and school boards, and were put to use in a variety of ways, including planning, needs assessment, and evaluation. Furthermore, many principals said that without the promise of feedback they would not have participated in the survey. These results suggest that this information, if properly presented, can be very useful to schools as they design and implement adolescent health programs.