This grant funds the Improving Adolescent Health and Well-Being Through School-Based Surveillance and the What Works in Schools Program, collected through the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System - The West Virginia Department of Health (WVDH), Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health (OMCFH) with partnership and support from the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) will work to inform selected schools and encourage participation in the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance (YRBS) Survey. The money awarded from the grant will be used to hire an Epidemiologist I to assist with data collection, operations and data analysis and be used for supplies needed for data collection as well as rewards for participating schools. Modifications will be made to existing scopes of work in place with the 8 Adolescent Health Coordinators (AHCs) working within with the Adolescent Health Program, housed in OMCFH. The 8 AHCs, previously involved in the administration of the YRBS will work with the Population Based Surveillance Epidemiologist II/PI (YRBS Coordinator) to administer and collect surveys in all 8 regions of the state. Data analysis will be conducted by the YRBS Coordinator and Epidemiologist I to produce reports and analytic reports for the public, but also will work with the WVDE to disseminate reports that are age appropriate to classrooms across the state. YRBS data is vital to increasing the knowledge for those in the educational field, but also those within public health. Identifying the needs and challenges of adolescents can foster development of initiatives and programs to address high risk groups and risky behaviors.
