The Wyoming Division of Well being (WDH) is asking younger adults ages 18-29 to finish a well being survey about substance abuse and different health-related behaviors to gauge the well being and well-being of this demographic.
That is the fourth time the survey has been supplied after earlier surveys had been carried out in 2016, 2018, and 2020.
“Our survey asks particular substance questions particularly about youth,” mentioned Melissa Taylor, substance use prevention epidemiologist with the WDH. “So, are you presently utilizing substances, after which additionally some behaviors round substance use. One in every of our questions is about consuming and driving. We’re how usually younger adults are utilizing substances, what kind, and once they’re utilizing them.”
That is the primary 12 months the division has carried out the survey fully on-line, beforehand having completed it through cellphone.
“We do see excessive charges of some substance use in Wyoming amongst all age teams,” she mentioned. “So, we see substance use charges form of barely elevated for each our youth and younger adults in addition to our adults. Our program particularly focuses on the large three substances which might be a burden amongst Wyoming’s inhabitants, which is alcohol, marijuana, or hashish and tobacco. These three substances are actually form of a bulk of this survey, and behaviors round use of these substances.”
Further well being questions middle on survey takers’ psychological well being and entry to care in an effort to determine methods to make use of prevention assets to areas which might be recognized as needing consideration.
Different sections have additionally been added to this 12 months’s survey as properly, which embrace motorized vehicle security, psychological well being and suicide, experiences with violence, and alcohol and tobacco use.
“So our program, most substance use prevention program has collaborated with the Maternal and Youngster Well being Unit and so these questions on well being care entry, in addition to among the associated danger components with substance use, in addition to precedence areas for maternal and little one well being are a bit bit new to this survey,” she mentioned. “We’re excited to see what this tells us so far as well being care entry particular to younger adults.”
The survey opened on Oct. 5 and is accessible by way of the tip of the 12 months. The division want to have not less than 2,500 younger grownup Wyomingites to finish the survey, which takes roughly 10-Quarter-hour to finish, Taylor mentioned.
“One of many causes that we wished to maneuver to this web-based survey, simply recognizing that, generally, it is getting increasingly more troublesome to finish phone-based surveys,” she mentioned. “As well as, this particular inhabitants, I believe, greater than perhaps different age teams, is much less inclined to reply a cellphone from an nameless or unknown quantity. So simply hoping to perhaps seize extra contributors by way of this web-based technique, then now we have solely doing a cellphone primarily based survey.”
The survey is co-sponsored by the Neighborhood Prevention Unit and the Maternal and Youngster Well being Unit, a part of the WDH’s Public Well being Division.
Contributors will stay nameless and still have the choice of coming into a drawing to win a $25 or $100 reward card on the finish of the survey.
It may be accessed here and is accessible in English and Spanish.
