Evaluation of Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey

BACKGROUND: Hawaii has implemented the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) since 1991. The YRBS addresses an important public health need by monitoring health risk behaviors among middle school and high school students in six categories: behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; alcohol and other drug use; tobacco use; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and inadequate physical activity and overweight. Periodic evaluations of public health surveillance systems help ensure that they are working efficiently and effectively. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the quality, effectiveness, and usefulness of the YRBS. 

METHODS: This evaluation follows the “Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems,” issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focusing on the system attributes of data quality, usefulness, and whether the YRBS is achieving its goals, as stated by CDC and those administering the survey. The evaluation plan includes data collection by semi-structured key informant interviews, a review of survey documentation and relevant literature, and stakeholder surveys. Presented here are the key informant interviews that will be used to inform subsequent evaluation activities.

RESULTS: Six (6) interviews were completed with key informants from the departments of health and education as well as from academia. Four themes emerged from the interviews: the difficulty of obtaining the necessary response rate of 60% in order to receive weighted data; the importance of maintaining and raising awareness of the survey; being sensitive to the values and opinions of stakeholders; and ensuring the survey collects information on the highest priority areas of adolescent health. 

CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary evaluation results indicate that the Hawaii YRBS has been successful in achieving its overarching goal of monitoring adolescent health risk behaviors, and that it fares well in an examination of its system attributes. By continuing efforts to build relationships with stakeholders and raise awareness of survey data, survey administrators can help ensure it is used to its fullest potential. These results will guide future interviews and the development of a web-based stakeholder survey for collection of quantitative information.