Chapter 4: Using Data to Shape Your Adolescent Health Program
This chapter discusses the role of data in shaping adolescent and young adult health initiatives, offering guidance for creating a local youth health profile and addressing the importance of demonstrating responsible stewardship of funding. It also introduces the reader to official data sources for the 21 Critical Health Objectives and presents strategies for measuring the concepts of healthy environments and youth development. This chapter attempts to balance the relative wealth of data on “problem behaviors” with promising, but less tested, strategies for measuring newer concepts of adolescent and young adult health. Most communities will need to work with data experts.
