To define the problem,
you should identify the ATOD-related factors that affect youth in your
community. These factors include past 30-day and lifetime ATOD use by
youth, adolescent sexual behavior, violent and nonviolent crime, and
antisocial behavior. Information provided in this tutorial program allows
you to examine ATOD use by youth in the middle- and high-school age
groups within your locality or Health Planning Region (HPR) and compare
it to ATOD use by all Virginia youth.
It is important
to use multiple strategies to define the problem at a community level.
For example, to understand and explain a difference between ATOD use
by middle- and high-school youth, you must examine information from
archival indicators, such as high school dropout rates. In this case,
you might determine that lower prevalence rates for high school youth
are a result of the survey methodology, because the survey was limited
to youth attending public schools in Virginia. Interviews with key community
youth leaders may help you to further understand ATOD use by youth in
the middle- and high-school age groups.
Sample
Charts*
Past
30-Day ATOD Use
Lifetime
ATOD Use
Note that past
30-day ATOD use is a more valid indicator of a problem than lifetime
ATOD use*.
As you examine
your locality/HPR information, you are attempting to answer the question,
"What is the youth ATOD use problem in my community?" To answer
this question, you may need to ask several others:
For which problem
are the rates in my community/HPR above the state average for youth
in the middle/high school age group (where information is available
by age group)?
For which
problem are the rates in my community/HPR below the state average
for youth in the middle/high school age group (where information
is available by age group)?
Are there
disparities between information obtained from the Community Youth
Survey and the Social Indicator Study? If so, which is a more valid
measure? (For example, if youth report frequent ATOD use in the
last 30 days, but Social Indicator Study information does not show
this as an outcome for your community, the Community Youth Survey
information might be the more valid indicator.)
Can interviews
with key community youth leaders, or other community stakeholders,
assist me in understanding the ATOD-related problems in my community?
Who are the key community youth leaders and other stakeholders?
How can I obtain information from these sources? How would this
information help me define the youth ATOD use problem in my community?
To
review your locality or HPR problem information from the Social Indicator
Study, select your locality or HPR of interest using the pull-down menu
below. Then, return here to Step 1.
Social Indicators
Outcomes:
Social Indicators
Outcomes by HPR:
To review your
HPR prevalence information from the Community Youth Survey, select your
locality of interest using the pull-down menu below. Then, return here
to Step 1.
Community Youth Survey
Outcomes by Region:
Based on your examination
of the information from the Social Indicator Study and the Community
Youth Survey, what is the extent of the youth ATOD use problem in your
community? Write down this information, and move on to Step
2: Identifying Risk and Protective Factors.
To
return to the top of the tutorial home page, click
here.
