The Student Health Survey is the sole source of statewide data on the health and
well-being
of Oregon youth.
The SHS is the largest youth-centered Oregon survey that obtains information directly
from students with a diversity of experiences, backgrounds, incomes, geographic
locations, identities, and cultures. The SHS provides a snapshot of how students
are doing physically, emotionally and socially.
A hungry or distracted mind makes it difficult for students to focus and achieve
academic success. Active, well-nourished, well-supported and connected youth are
more likely to attend school, arrive ready to learn, and stay engaged in class.
Survey results are a valuable tool for identifying, understanding and addressing
health conditions that contribute to barriers for young people in school. Districts
and schools can use SHS results to take steps to strengthen educational and health
outcomes for students through the development of systems and partnerships
that support students’ physical, mental and behavioral health with the long-term
aim of achieving the academic improvements specified in the Student Success Act
(SSA).
Survey data can help address health and education outcomes for focal student groups
defined within the SSA as those who are at increased risk for health problems which
impact learning due to inequitable conditions in neighborhoods, homes and schools,
such as:
- Students of color
- Students with disabilities
- Emerging bilingual students
- Students navigating poverty, homelessness, and foster care
- LGBTQ2SIA+ students
- Other students who have historically experienced disparities
| Survey Data Tells Only Part of the Story |
| Data analysis often focuses on disparities
and gaps to guide our work. But data
and statistics alone lack context and fail to capture the rich history and
culture of many communities. Participatory analysis can provide community-led
insight
and context to better explain the whys of survey results. |
The Oregon Health Authority’s goal is to eliminate health disparities by 2030. What
does that mean?
Some groups of people experience persistent differences in health and health
care that stem from broader systemic inequities, such as unequal
distribution of social, political, economic, and environmental
resources which result from racism and discrimination.
Our goal is to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities
to be healthy regardless of who they are, where they live or what they believe.
| OHA is grateful to our community partners, the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health
Board, the Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition, and the Coalition of Communities of
Color, who are working with us to continually improve the SHS to better serve all
Oregon youth. |
Beginning in the spring of 2019, the OHA Public Health Director’s Office began working
with the Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition (OPIC), the Coalition of Communities
of Color (CCC), and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) to
modernize Oregon’s population health surveys. These community organizations provided
a deep community-centered critique of the purpose, design, and implementation of
the surveys and developed a set of actionable recommendations for OHA for authentically
engaging with communities through all phases of the data life cycle from design
through analysis and dissemination.
Community partners worked with PDES to write comprehensive reports describing their
findings and recommendations. You can learn more about this work and read the final
reports here.
We are working towards achieving health equity by obtaining data that better represents
and serves all Oregon youth. The 2022 SHS reflects:
- Input from the Youth Data Council (YDC), which was formed in early 2022 to make
Oregon’s youth an integral part of the survey
- Increasing the number of strengths-based questions that address systemic issues
and reducing the number of deficits-based questions that focus on the individual
- Enabling more contextual data by including several open-ended questions to gain
a better understanding of systemic barriers and challenges faced by our youth
The 2022 Student Health Survey (SHS) is different from previous youth surveys. Community
feedback supports and intensifies the need for the Oregon Public Health Division
(OPHD) and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to focus on equity. Equity is
a right, not a privilege, for all Oregon Youth. Oregon Health Authority (OHA) defines
health equity as “…when all people can reach their full health potential and well-being
and are not disadvantaged by their race, ethnicity, language, disability, age, gender,
gender identity, sexual orientation, social class, intersections among these communities
or identities, or other socially determined circumstances. Achieving health equity
requires the ongoing collaboration of all regions and sectors of the state, including
tribal governments to address: The equitable distribution or redistribution of resources
and power and recognizing, reconciling, and rectifying historical and contemporary
injustices.” 1
Not only should OHA services be equitable but our methods for collecting and disseminating
data should reflect equity as well. To be truly equitable, the Student Health Survey
needs more than the revision of a few questions. It needs community and youth engagement
from design through the communication of results. It needs fundamentally different
and contextualized questions that meet the needs of health programs and communities.
It needs structures within OPHD that support community engagement and leadership.
To be fully equitable, the SHS needs OPHD to change the way that it works. This
requires organizational change which can be challenging and will require sustained
effort and leadership.
This summarizes the collaborative work of Program Design and Evaluation
Services
(PDES)
2 with community organizations to bring more equity
to
the design
and content of SHS and efforts to shift the way that OPHD engages community.
OHA’s goal is to eliminate health disparities by 2030. What does that mean? Some
groups of people experience persistent differences in health and health care that
stem from broader systemic inequities, such as unequal distribution of social, political,
economic, and environmental resources which result from racism and discrimination.
Our goal is to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities to be healthy.
Beginning in the spring of 2019, the OHA Public Health Director’s Office began collaborating
with the Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition (OPIC), the Coalition of Communities
of Color (CCC), and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) to
modernize Oregon’s population health surveys. These community organizations provided
a deep community-centered critique of the purpose, design, and implementation of
the surveys and developed a set of actionable recommendations for OHA for authentically
engaging with communities through all phases of the data life cycle from design
through analysis and dissemination.
PDES collaborated with CCC and the NPAIHB to form and facilitate community-specific
data project teams for the Latinx, Black/African American/African Immigrant & Refugee,
and American Indian/Alaskan Native communities. Project teams used community-identified
priorities to guide the analysis, interpretation, and contextualization of student
youth data. Some partners also led community-driven data collection on topics and
methods of their choice.
OPIC and PDES worked together to build capacity among Pacific Islander researchers,
community organizers, individuals, and community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct
community-led data collection and research. A Pacific Islander core team of researchers
worked with PDES and sought guidance from various advisory groups including OPIC.
The Pacific Islander-led core team identified priorities for this project, co-designed
the data collection methods that would work best with their communities, and developed
a community health assessment tool. They analyzed both the qualitative and quantitative
data using a participatory approach 3
with a broader team of Community Research Workers.
In addition to providing key recommendations on the content of the SHS, OPIC, CCC
and NPAIHB gave recommendations on including community at every step of the process
of creating data from survey design through dissemination. PDES operationalized
these recommendations by standing up a Youth Data Council (YDC) to give input (and
ultimately collaborative decision making) into the design, content, and dissemination
of the SHS. The community partners have given ongoing feedback on the formation
and support of the YDC.
Community partners also met with the SHS Advisory Committee in November and December
2021 to discuss their findings and recommendations. This launched the process of
modernizing the SHS.
Community partners worked with PDES to write comprehensive reports describing their
findings and recommendations. You can learn more about this work and read the final
reports
here.
These same community organizations have been instrumental in disseminating the findings
from the community-led data projects. Community partners have collaborated with
PDES in presenting the findings in multiple venues including (but not limited to)
the Public Health Advisory Board (PHAB) 4
and OPHD Science and Epidemiology Council.
The recommendations from the community were eye-opening.
We heard that the way many of the survey questions are asked and reported does not
help and, in fact, causes harm to Oregon youth. The main criticisms of the survey
are:
- Tribal and Indigenous youth, youth of color, non-binary identifying youth, and non-heterosexual
youth, have historically been under-represented, marginalized and lack visibility
and a voice in the survey.
- Survey questions do not provide communities with enough information, context and
understanding of systemic barriers such as racism, and discrimination faced by Oregon
youth.
- Survey questions should focus on youth’s strength and resilience, rather than negative
outcomes that reinforce blame on individuals.
- Survey questions should focus on systems and environments in which youth make choices
rather than entirely on decontextualized individual behaviors which have the effect
of blaming youth rather than addressing the systemic causes.
- The design of surveys should include youth voice and youth as decision makers in
the process.
- Survey questions do not provide enough contextual data to result in meaningfully
actionable analysis.
Survey Modernization simply means that we’re working to make the survey better.
For everyone. We’re taking community recommendations on how to improve the survey
and putting them into practice. We are working to reimagine the survey questions
and capture data that is more relevant to youth’s lives to help provide the support
they need to succeed.
Based on the recommendations from community and input of the YDC, we created an
action plan for revising the SHS. Primary among our goals were to (1) revisit the
purpose of the SHS to ensure that it aligns with our equity focus, (2) stand up
a youth data council to provide input and guidance on the content, (3) create criteria
for prioritizing survey questions and (4) make the survey more accessible by reducing
the number of questions.