BURLINGTON – The next time students partake in a Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) it will be on May 8 and in a digital format.
Thanks to innovation and suggestions from the Burlington-based Lahey Health, the YRBS will digitized and apt to provide a quicker process and response to the results and analysis.
The next YRBS will be given on May 8 in tandem with all the other schools in the Middlesex League for the first time. Per Lahey Health’s recommendation, the survey will include questions that are similar for each district.
“The results will be tabulated with the other results from the Middlesex League schools,” explained School Committee member Kristin Russo.
All the school districts in the Middlesex League most recently took the survey in 2016, so with students taking it again this year on May 8, no districts will be able to take part in the survey again for another two years. This action aligns the prerogatives of all 12 school districts in the Middlesex League, allowing for comparable data to be analyzed on a broader basis.
After expressing gratitude to Lahey Health for assisting, School Supt. Dr. Eric Conti acknowledged this is the first time the survey will be conducted digitally with all 12 school districts working in tandem so there may be some bumps along the way.
“I want to make sure we acknowledge Lahey’s support of this effort for creating the digital [YRBS]. They are paying for a compilation of the data,” detailed Dr. Conti. “It is not going to be perfect coordinating with 12 other communities for the first time, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.”
The School Committee was pleased and grateful to know the YRBS process is going to be improved with help from Lahey Health.
Member Christine Monaco talked about the importance of students knowing how serious and important their answers are to the questions.
“It is so important that the delivery of [the YRBS] to the students is done in a way where the kids take it seriously. The most recent survey showed coaching the kids to really take it seriously did make a difference. I just want to reinforce to the kids how important this is,” avowed Monaco.
The 2016 YRBS results
Speaking of the most recent YRBS taken by students in 2016, the following encapsulates the entire story of the most intriguing statistics, feedback and recommendations from that survey.
The 2016 YRBS presented to the School Committee revealed more encouraging statistics than what was seen in 2014.
The YRBS has been championed by the district’s Wellness Committee and the School Department. It was implemented in Burlington a decade ago and entails 99 questions that cover various areas from drug use to mental health.
“The survey really gives us the ability to see trends that are coming and going,” explained member Russo, noting Burlington students typically take part in the survey every other year.
In 2011, the Burlington Drug & Alcohol Task Force received a state grant to pay for administrating the YRBS in 2012. The following year, the School Committee allocated funds for two more surveys to be administered in 2014 and 2016.
In 2016, a total of 883 Burlington High School and 8th grade students from Marshall Simonds Middle School completed the survey and the results were analyzed by Matt Jackling, a district coordinator for health and wellness and a member of the YRBS Subcommittee of the Wellness Committee.
Jackling presented data from the results of the survey, highlighting areas of note. The primary categories discussed entailed mental health, the use of harmful substances, and nutrition.
The following data divulges the survey results of 883 Burlington High School and 8th grade students from 2016, and the statistics are followed by a comparison to 2014 and 2012.
Mental Health
- 83 percent of Burlington High School students reported an unhealthy stress level at school, while 40.5 percent of students in grade 11 said “yes, they have a lot” of stress. 78.2 percent said they had stress in 2014 and 77.1 percent had stress in 2012.
- 17.8 percent of all students say they have resorted to self-injury. 19 percent in 2014 and 14.7 percent in 2012.
- 25.9 percent of students indicate they have suffered through depression. 28.3 percent in 2014 and 19.8 percent in 2012.
- 9.2 percent of students indicate they have tried suicide in the past 12 months. 9.3 percent in 2014 and 7.3 percent in 2012.
- A positive note to conclude this the mental health category is that the number of students saying they have been bullied, sexually abused, or seriously considered suicide is down from 2014.
Harmful Substances
- 24.6 percent of students report they have attended parties in Burlington homes where alcohol use by teenagers is allowed. 24.6 percent in 2014 and 24.9 percent in 2012.
- 7.7 percent of students say they abuse someone else’s prescription medication; 7.5 percent in 9th grade (all girls), 6.4 percent in 10th grade (all girls), 8.8 percent in 11th grade (all girls), and 15 percent of 12th grade boys. Overall, the percentage is down from 2014 (12.4 percent) and 2012 (13.3 percent).
- Cigarette, alcohol and drug-use is down by at least 5 percent in all categories including marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin use.
Nutrition
- 43.4 percent of Burlington High School students see themselves as not the right weight, with 23.9 percent as overweight and 19.5 percent as underweight. 47.9 percent in 2014 and 44.2 percent in 2012.
- 5.8 percent of students say that have used a diet-aid without a doctor’s advice in the past month. 5.6 percent in 2014 and 5.7 percent in 2012.
- 11.8 percent of Burlington High School students report eating no breakfast over the last week. 10.4 percent in 2014 and 10.8 percent in 2012.
Recommendations
As they have done since 2012, the YRBS Subcommittee provided the School Committee with recommendations for the district’s programming. It has been acknowledged that the subcommittee wants to continue conducting the YRBS so the data can be shared with all the prudent parties, such as the School Committee, departmental heads, Burlington Police Department, school resource officers, Guidance Department, Athletic Department, and Nursing Department.
The subcommittee is requesting that school officials implement a mentoring/student advisory program for all students so each child has the opportunity to have a form of comfortable communication with an adult faculty member in the building. Only 58.9 percent of students say they have that type of relationship. Avoiding s child falling into the realm of anonymity is the objective of having these lines of communication.
They are also recommending more staffing in the budget for counseling, more community outreach programs, and a continued focus on re-evaluating the district’s health curriculum.
In addition, evaluating the nutritional value of the vending machines in the schools, increasing student awareness about breakfast offerings, and identifying opportunities for more training for staff to better understand stress management and coping mechanisms.
Comments
Compared to 2014, the School Committee viewed the presentation format more favorably and liked the way the information was summarized effectively. The members were also pleased with the improved statistics from several years ago.
“I want to thank [Matt Jackling] for putting this presentation together,” praised School Committee member Tom Murphy, Jr. “Going back a few years, it was pretty alarming. It is still alarming, but we are trending in the right direction and I am sure that is due to several different factors. It appears to me that you are doing something correct, so keep moving forward with it.”
School Committee Chair Stephen Nelson remembered how “shocking” it was to see some of the statistics in 2012 and 2014.
“We did not understand the number of students that were struggling with depression, and suicidal thoughts and attempts,” Chair Nelson professed. “We did not have those thoughts at the School Committee level, and because of this YRBS, we are having these really important conversations and implementing strategies thanks to the hard work of the YRBS Subcommittee.”
The results from the next YRBS will be disclosed in the months after May 8.
