Page 1

Inside this issue:

     Between February 2007 and January 2008, the Center for Multicultural Health at the Utah Department of Health, the Division of Health Promotion at Utah County Health Department (UCHD), and the Master of Public Health program at Brigham Young University joined forces to investigate possible improvements in the process of delivering health promotion messaging to students from minority and underserved populations especially at alternative high schools in Utah County.

     Racial and ethnic minorities have disproportionately high representation at most alternative high schools in Utah County (see http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/ ). According to the National Alternative High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 1998, many students attending alternative high schools engage in behaviors that place them at risk for serious health problems. For example, the Survey results showed that 64.1% of alternative high school students reported current cigarette use, while 44.8% reported frequent cigarette use. In order to determine appropriate health information for underserved populations and mediums through which to deliver them, four focus groups made up of teenagers aged 15 - 19 were organized from an adolescent tobacco-cessation group called END (End Nicotine Dependence) and three alternative high schools in Utah County.

      Focus group discussion topics included perception of health, internet Use, leisure activities, tobacco use, seat belt use, and flier design. Questions relating to internet use, leisure activities, and flier design sought to understand the means through which teenagers prefer to receive information. In addition, Injury Prevention and Control and the Health Promotion Division at UCHD sought information about alternative high school students’ perceptions of seat belt use and tobacco use, respectively.

      Results showed that those Utah County alternative high school students of multiracial and ethnic backgrounds in these focus group discussions showed in-depth knowledge of the health effects of behaviors and lifestyles – specifically, diet, exercise, smoking, and seat belt use. Many of their decisions appeared to be based on their own, family members’, or friends’ experiences, such as a Latino student whose friend died in a car accident without a seatbelt or a Pacific Islander student who buckles her seat belt when her younger siblings are in the car.

                                                                                                   Continued on page 2

February 2008  Issue # 20

CLIK HERE FOR A PDF OR PRINTABLE VERSION OF     The Connection