The Maine Department of Education, in collaboration with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Substance Abuse in the Department of Health and Human Services, announces the third administration of the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) with a survey administration period of between February 4 and 15, 2013.
The goal of this survey is to better understand risk behaviors specific to Maine youth and use these data to inform prevention intervention that affect the success of Maine youth in attaining the Maine Learning Results. In 2009, the MIYHS replaced several previous surveys sponsored by State agencies (such as the Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the Youth Tobacco Survey) in order to minimize time away from academic instruction.
The 2013 MIYHS will provide estimates on a variety of student health risk behaviors, risk and protective factors, and health conditions and provide comparison data with the 2009 and 2011 surveys. This type of trend data showing increases, decreases or static results is essential for quality programmatic planning, as well as applying for grant and other funding opportunities.
While a random process of selection is used for schools with kindergarten and/or third grades (K/3 module) and fifth and/or sixth grades (5/6 module), a census of middle schools (grades 7 and 8) and high schools (grades 9 through 12) are asked to participate in the survey. K/3 and 5/6 schools selected for the 2013 survey might not be the same ones chosen for the 2009 and 2011 surveys, although schools not selected for the 2013 5/6 grade survey may volunteer to participate. A recruitment letter will be sent to all principals and school nurses in a few weeks.
In order to receive district-level data for any given survey module, at least 50 percent of all schools in your district for that module must participate in the MIYHS and receive at least a 50-percent overall response rate.
If you would like a sample school district report and/or the list of schools in your district that have been chosen for the 2013 MIYHS, please contact Pan Atlantic SMS Group at 1-866-487-2810 or miyhs@panatlanticsmsgroup.com. You may also contact Pan Atlantic SMS Group during the fall to get a breakdown of which schools in your district have signed up to participate and which ones have said they do not want to participate.
As in the past, the MIYHS protocol is designed to protect student confidentiality, and anyone other than principals and designated MIYHS coordinators in each school who request school data will be asked to obtain written permission.
Should you have any questions about your district’s data and/or have a local report request, please contact Stephen Corral of the Office of Substance Abuse at 287-2964 or Stephen.Corral@maine.gov.
Resources and more information
- Jean Zimmerman
Maine Department of Education
624-6687
Jean.Zimmerman@maine.gov - Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey website