The links below contained detailed information for the upcoming 2017 Safe States Alliance Annual Meeting, taking place September 12-14, 2017 in Aurora, Colorado.
Please note:
- A total of five concurrent sessions will take place during the Annual Meeting, and there will be up to five breakouts occurring simultaneously during each of those concurrent sessions. Within each breakout, there will be up to four presentations that take place.
- This online system does not allow us to embed the individual presentations within each breakout. Please note the session presentations listed under each Concurrent Breakout title for associated content.
- The on-site mobile app WILL embed these sessions for ease of use.
- A printable, detailed agenda can be found on the 2017 Annual Meeting website.
- If you have any questions, please contact info@safestates.org
- All session times and locations are tentative and subject to change. Safe States will continue to update these details as changes take place.
Measuring the Impact of a Gay Straight Alliance on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual High School Students’ Mental and Emotional Health
Learning Objectives
In this session, participants will:
- Compare how five mental and emotional health outcomes differ by association to exposure to an intervention available nationally to youth in schools.
- Discuss the potential value of access to a Gay Straight Alliance for youth in schools.
- Identify future opportunities to reduce the prevalence of adverse mental health outcomes among lesbian, gay and bisexual youth.
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess the association between the presence or absence of a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) in Colorado high schools and certain mental, emotional health or violent outcomes among lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) or students unsure of their sexual identity. These outcomes are significantly higher for LGB high school students than for those who are heterosexual (GLSEN, 2015).
Methods/Approach
Data from the 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey was used to analyze outcomes by exposure to a GSA (N= 28,259 observations from 253 high schools). Weighted prevalence was calculated for selected outcomes including suicide attempts, hopeless feelings, and bullying; and were stratified by sexual identity. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression described the odds of each outcome by exposure.
Results
Compared to LGB students in schools without a GSA program, LGB students in schools with a GSA reported a significantly lower prevalence of having attempted suicide (lower by 30%, p=0.0001). After adjusting for race/ethnicity, grade level, and school setting, the prevalence of suicide attempts in schools with a GSA remained significantly lower than the rate for students in schools without a GSA (lower by 28%, p= 0.0004). The prevalence of other outcomes measured in the presence of a GSA was lower, but did not show significance.
Conclusions & Significance to the Field
The presence of a GSA is associated with a lower likelihood of LGB high school students experiencing emotional or suicidal outcomes. Future program evaluation using well-defined evaluation measures could show how a GSA in schools might significantly be associated with lower prevalence rates of adverse emotional health outcomes for LGB youth. Observations from a well-organized and systematically managed survey completed by a large cohort, combined with Colorado GSA school data makes this work unique and informs public health practice that suicide amongst LGB youth might be preventable if robust and engaged GSA programs could be accessible at more schools.
Presenters
Ms. Lisa R Diaz, MPH, n/a
Biography
Lisa Diaz received her MPH from the Colorado School of Public Health, in Epidemiology, Injury and Violence Prevention in May, 2017. She has been doing work with survey data about Colorado youth and research to inform policy to encourage safer streets and healthy communities. Prior to her graduate studies, Diaz worked for over two decades in marketing communications where she focused her work in market research and crafting the communication of complex ideas into content designed to be easy to understand by the audience of interest.