Hey Lindsey,
For our last blog post I have included a rough draft of the survey questions that we would like to ask teens in the mall. The goal of the survey is to find out how teen depression and anxiety impacts teens and what education they have received so far in the high school setting.
Potential Survey Questions:
In order for us to better understand how teens in Utah are affected by depression and anxiety, please take a few minutes to answer the following questions:
1. Have you ever received education in your school setting about depression or anxiety?
If yes, please describe the setting and information covered.
_____________________________________________________________
2. Do you think that your school gives enough attention to mental health topics, such as depression or suicide?
3. do you know anyone who has depression or anxiety? (circle one)
no family member friend acquaintance me
Other ____________________________________________________________
4. Who would you talk to if you or someone you know was depressed?
_________________________________________________________________
5. What would you prefer to see in your school?
- In class lesson about mental illness
- School assembly about mental illness
- A movie about mental illness
- really sexy people talking about mental illness
6. What ideas do you have that might improve awareness for you and your friends on the topic of mental illness?
______________________________________________________________________________
(I think if we actually do a survey and we want kids to take time to do it we should probably make it as simple and short as possible while still getting some worthwhile information. I think Josh made a comment last time we met about perhaps just finding data from research that already exists. It would certainly be easier and maybe more relevant, then again, it could go the other way and be far less relevant. Plus I think it would be a cool addition of diversity if we actually did our own survey.)
This is a great start! However, I want you to think about the best way to collect this information. I don't know if you'll get that many people to complete the survey, which may affect the outcome. It might be better for you to conduct some interviews or a focus group with youth to get more in-depth information. Also, think about the ordering of your questions. It would be best to keep school-specific questions together. I have a different macro group (focusing on mental health & stigma) who has met with an organization called Youth Move Utah, which is part of NAMI. These folks may be good to engage around their experience with depression/anxiety content in schools. http://www.namiut.org/peer-support/youth-council. I look forward to reading your final paper!
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