STD teaching.

[blackscrubs]

I want to have an anonymous survey for 7th-12th grades. Appropriate for the ages of course. I want to do a survey about STDs. I want to know if they are sexually active, having unprotected sex...etc. Help me think of some survey questions PLEASE!!!! Parent will be informed and allowed to object to their child taking part in all this. I feel that there is def a rise in sexual activities. They are experimenting at younger ages now. Abstinence is our policy, but lets get out of "fairy tale" land. I thought after conducting a survey and gathering data I could take it before the administration and try and intervene. Any advise, tips, help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!

[Jolie, BSN]

If STD teaching is your ultimate goal (and it's an important one), I would stick to teaching and not bother with a survey.

You can probably safely assume that by middle school age, you have sexually active students.

In my experience, neither parents nor administrators would be willing to consent to such a survey. Factual education, OK. A survey on such a sensitive topic? Not in a million years.

[schooldistrictnurse]

Isn't there already teaching on this topic somewhere in the curriculum? In our district, they get it starting in 5th grade "there are diseases of the reproductive system such as cancers (have you ever heard of cervical cancer?) and STIs or STDs (have you ever heard of AIDS)" through 7th grade when they learn about actual reproduction and again in 8th (a class called Healthy Choices) and 9th (mandatory Health). I know the grade levels may not completely match up to the needs, but its a conservative district and this is the best we can offer for right now.

[gatherswool]

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is the gold standard for getting this kind of data on kids from grades 6-12. In fact, if you would rather save time and not do your own survey, you could use their data for your state to talk with the school.

You can find a copy of the survey, as well as their data, at http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/index.htm

I definitely recommend using the YRBSS protocol if you're going to do a survey; for one, you'll be helping a lot of people by collecting more data, and for another, you may protect yourself somewhat from risk of liability if anyone complains -- or decides after the fact that their child was somehow "harmed" by completing the survey. (It's not inconceivable, and this is why many IRBs make it nearly impossible to perform any untested sexual health surveys with adolescents).

I'm also always surprised to find how few school systems are using evidence-based programs to reduce STDs -- the programs are definitely out there, but I think that sometimes we adults imagine that we "know" how to prevent STDs just by being smarter than a bunch of limbically-driven, prefrontal-deprived, hormone-washed teenagers. School nurses and School-Based Health Center staff can be great resources for schools that are interested in using proven programs, at least when we can tactfully suggest to a school that the Promising Practices Network might be a bit more useful than the usual Syphilitic Slideshow...

Good luck! Reducing STD load among adolescents is a very pressing issue for public health -- not to mention the many individual kids whose health and future fertility are at risk!