February 16, 2006

Weller Center partners with Easton Area High School for Baseline Survey

(Easton, Pa.) Tonight, representatives from the Easton Area School District and the Weller Health Education Center presented to school board members the results of a comprehensive health-risk behavior survey of the district’s high school students.

On November 8, 2005, more than 2,200 students were surveyed on issues including emotional health, sexual activity, body weight and physical activity, tobacco, alcohol and other drug use, and unwanted behavior and harassment.

The survey was designed to measure the prevalence of health-risk behaviors specific to Easton Area High School students.

To customize the testing instrument with questions that best represented issues faced by the teens, the Weller Center conducted several focus groups with students in grades nine through 12. Working with researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) School of Public Health, the Weller Center then developed the self-administered 40-question survey instrument.

Melissa Lee, president and CEO of the Weller Center, said the survey is unique in many ways. “Unlike other surveys, this survey tool is flexible and is adapted to address the particular needs of the school district,” she said.

“Using the information gained during student focus groups, we’re able to design a concise instrument that focuses on the most pressing issues. Students can complete the survey in approximately 15 minutes, so we’re able to minimize interruption in the school day and maximize student attention and interest,” she added. 

The Two Rivers Health and Wellness Foundation funded the baseline survey project in the Easton Area School District—the second district in the Lehigh Valley to participate in the survey. The Weller Center conducted its first baseline health risk behavior survey in the East Penn School District in May 2005.

The Weller Center is currently working with other school districts throughout eastern and central Pennsylvania to customize and implement health risk behavior surveys.

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About the Weller Health Education Center

The mission of the Weller Health Education Center is to measurably improve children’s lives by giving students the tools they need to make informed and healthy life choices. To accomplish this, each year the Center partners with more than 500 schools to supplement and enhance the teaching of health, character education and life science for students grades K through 12. The Center was the first not-for-profit health promotion, disease prevention education facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. Serving more than 1.2 million children since our inception in 1982, the Weller Center remains the only such center in our 39-county service area and one of just 34 health education