YRBS banner

Youth Risk Behavior Survey

YRBS


TRAINING VIDEOS

YRBS: Selecting Classes

Field data collection is a precise, scientific process.  Each task must be handled in an accurate and consistent way. For the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), one of the first tasks states must complete in the survey administration process is to select classes from their sample of schools in a certain way.

The YRBS Selecting Classes training video shown here demonstrates how to select classes using school-level sample information forms, classroom-level sample information forms, and random numbers provided to sites by Westat.  The video shows detailed examples of how to properly select classes from class lists. 

This video shows one element of the technical assistance Westat provides to states in administering the YRBS, part of a national effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor health risk behaviors of high-school-aged children in the United Sates.

Westat provides in-person training for everyone involved in the YRBS data collection process, but some of these activities take place long after the initial training. The YRBS video is a refresher to remind busy educators about the specifics of a very detailed process before the work is to be done.


YRBS: Preparing Data for Analysis

Once YRBS data collection is complete, sites must prepare their surveys to send to Westat to process. The YRBS Preparing Data for Analysis training video shown here demonstrates the steps involved in packaging up surveys to send to Westat for scanning and analyses. Steps include checking through surveys for blank IDs or surveys completed in ink, arranging the surveys by school ID and class ID, preparing a header sheet, and placing the surveys in bundles with survey documentation.

Westat provides in-person training for everyone involved in the YRBS data collection process, but some of these activities take place long after the initial training. This video shows one of the last but most important elements of the technical assistance Westat provides to states in administering the YRBS and reminds sites about the specifics of preparing data.


Profiles: Getting the Best Response Rate

The School Health Profiles (Profiles) are designed to help education and health agencies monitor the current status of school education, physical education, school health policies related to HIV infection/AIDS, tobacco use prevention, and nutrition; asthma management, and family and community involvement in school health. Education and health agencies conduct the survey at the middle-school and high-school levels. This survey is administered to principals and health education teachers.

One of the goals of Westat’s technical assistance for Profiles is to monitor school participation for each site to assess whether sites can get “weighted” data; that is, data comparable to national data. This video shows one element of the technical assistance Westat provides to states in administering the Profiles. It also provides sites tips for how to use a tracking form to monitor response rates and it offers suggestions such as using postcard reminders, re-mailing questionnaires, and using email and telephone reminders to increase response rates to meet or exceed a 70-percent response rate for each of the surveys.

Westat provides technical assistance via many modes of communication. This video is a supplemental resource to remind education and health agencies how to increase their response rates.


HANDBOOKS

Handbook for Conducting Youth Risk Behavior Surveys

The YRBS handbook is designed for cooperative agreement program directors in state, local, and territorial agencies and tribal governments, as well as others who plan and conduct Youth Risk Behavior Surveys as part of cooperative agreement activities with the CDC’s Division of Adolescent School Health.

The following pages include the chapters of the 2013 Handbook for Conducting Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, which Westat designed in collaboration with CDC. Sites rely heavily on this resource to answer questions during the entire survey process. These chapters are also posted to the Survey TA website when updated for a new survey cycle.

Handbook for Developing School Health Profiles

The Profiles handbook is a resource for state, territorial, and local agencies and tribal governments with cooperative agreements from CDC conducting School Health Profiles surveys. The handbook helps sites plan their Profiles, select schools, conduct the survey, prepare data for analysis, and report results.

The following pages include the chapters of the 2012 Handbook for Developing School Health Profiles, which Westat designed in collaboration with CDC. Westat and CDC provide technical assistance to sites conducting Profiles. Sites rely heavily on this resource to answer questions during the entire survey process. These chapters are also posted to the Survey TA website when updated for a new survey cycle.