What is the Warren County Youth Well-Being Inventory?
According to the US Surgeon General's Advisory on Youth Mental Health, “Ensuring healthy children and families will take an all-of-society effort, including policy, institutional, and individual changes in how we view and prioritize mental health."To best meet our youth's mental, emotional, and behavioral health needs, we must first understand them.
Warren County has responded to this advisory through the development of the Youth Well-Being Inventory. This Inventory collects necessary data to understand mental health as well as other components of youth well-being. The Inventory is strength-based and allows schools and communities to understand what is "right" with our kids as well as what is needed to support them as they grow and learn.
Participation in the Inventory is free to schools in Warren County. Participation comes with connections to programs and services offered to your school at no charge, and each participating district receives a $5,000 mini-grant to address challenges identified from the data.
The results of the Inventory will serve as a barometer of the extent to which our community has successfully fostered health for our youth. This information provides a mechanism for schools and community partners to plan, evaluate, and improve programs designed to prevent health problems and promote healthy behaviors.
How was the Warren County Youth Well-Being Inventory Created?
Prevention and Youth Well-Being professionals representing 14 systems and agencies across Warren County spent two years compiling the best and most relevant questions to help us better understand what youth need to succeed. The resulting Youth Well-Being Inventory is a 110-item questionnaire that is electronically administered, takes 35 minutes to complete, and is completely anonymous.
The Youth Well-Being Inventory, administered every other year with students in grades 7 through 12, examines behaviors, experiences, and other factors that influence the health and well-being of youth. The Youth Well-Being Inventory asks youth about the positive aspects of their lives and activities as well as risk and protective factors across a broad range of youth well-being issues, including the impact of social determinants of health, equity, trauma, and other school and community factors.
Facts about the Warren County Youth Well-Being Inventory
Local data collection process – Warren County Prevention Professionals developed
the Youth Well-Being Inventory, and the data is housed locally at the Warren County
Health Department. This means that:
Your district will have a direct link to Warren County resources.
Results are not delayed by distance or bureaucracy.
Your district can add or delete questions based on what best suits your
district's culture.
You have immediate access to the data at no additional cost.
CDC Approved - In the fall of 2021, the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) approved the Youth Well-Being Inventory as a valid tool to collect youth well-being data,
and the data can be utilized to monitor youth well-being as part of state and federal grants.
Tied to local programs and services - Warren County has a wealth of prevention, intervention, and treatment programs available to your school district at no charge.
Participation in the Youth Well-Being Inventory links your district directly to these resources.
Also, data from the Inventory can be utilized to secure additional resources through
local, state, and national sources.
Comparable to state and national trends – Data gathered through the Inventory
is comparable to state and national youth well-being data that is gathered through other
data collection tools, including the PRIDE Survey, YRBS, and others.