Adolescent Health and Schools Programs

Abstract School-based surveillance data, specifically the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) and School Health Profiles (Profiles), are important to help monitor Kentucky youths’ experiences, behaviors, and the school policies and practices that shape student well-being and safety. The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC), a bona fide agent for the Kentucky Department for Public Health and an independent research center at the University of Kentucky, will collaborate with partners to implement Component 3—state school-based surveillance—of the Improving Adolescent Health and Well-Being Through School-Based Surveillance and the What Works in Schools Program. KIPRC will establish, implement, and strengthen state-level school-based surveillance by conducting the YRBS Tier 1 in odd- numbered years (2025, 2027, 2029) and the Profiles in even-numbered years (2026 and 2028). KIPRC will collect, analyze, and disseminate YRBS and Profiles data to help inform the public, stakeholders/partners, policymakers, and educators about the experiences and risk behaviors among Kentucky’s youth and to support the development of school policies and practices that reduce priority health risk behaviors and experiences among youth. Through strengthened surveillance and partnerships, KIPRC aims to improve the behaviors and experiences of secondary school students.