Utilizing Local Professional Association Chapters as Pathways for Leadership Development.

In 2019, there was no entity specifically dedicated to health promotion and education practitioners in Connecticut or New England. This made it difficult for health promotion practitioners and students to network, collaborate, and engage in professional development. The purpose of this article is to share our experiences developing the new Connecticut Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education (CT SOPHE), including how we leveraged student interns during the first two years to promote organizational growth. To build our membership, it was important to determine who would be interested in joining CT SOPHE and so we focused on three groups: the current workforce/professionals, future workforce/students, and future leaders/interns. Over the course of these two years, three interns were recruited to help with creating a needs assessment (MPH student) and program development (two BS students); the organization was established by an MPH student as her internship project. Three former interns share how their experience working with the CT SOPHE board has helped them develop crucial leadership skills early in their careers. Embedding student interns into the framework and operations of CT SOPHE demonstrates an intentional and strategic commitment to the sustainability of both the organization and the workforce.

Secondary analysis of one State's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data by Individualized Education Program (IEP) status.

BACKGROUND: Children with disabilities may be at increased risk for engaging in health risk behaviors compared to their peers without disabilities. OBJECTIVE: This secondary analysis aims to assess if Individualized Education Program (IEP) status, a proxy for having a disability, is a risk factor for youth to engage in health risk behaviors such as alcohol use, marijuana use, other substance use, bullying or cyberbullying victimization, and sexual activity. METHODS: Data from Connecticut Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 were combined for a representative sample of 9243 students, 850 reporting having an IEP. Having a disability was measured by an item that asked if participants received special education services as part of an IEP. Logistic regression that accounted for the YRBSS sample design was used to assess main effects. RESULTS: Having an IEP significantly predicted the likelihood of being bullied (OR = 1.81), cyberbullied (OR = 1.49), and other drug use (OR = 1.65), but did not predict engaging in sexual activity. CONCLUSIONS: Students with disabilities in CT, as defined by the receipt of special education services as specified on an IEP, are at increased risk to engage in health risk behaviors than are students without disabilities during their high school years. Further analyses and comparisons across sites, years, and type of disability are limited as there is no current item on the national YRBSS questionnaire that measures a participant's special education status or disability status.

Measuring Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation in National Disease Surveillance Systems: A Pilot Study.

The study sought to determine participants' preferred methods for self-reporting biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation in national surveillance studies. An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted with n = 255 adults, 18 years old or older and currently living in the US. After completing a series of questions and question sets related to biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, participants were asked which question or question set they preferred to use to identify their identifying characteristic. Two "no preference options," one stating that all the questions were good and another stating that all the questions were bad, were included as response options. A majority (53.8%) preferred "What sex were you at birth?" to identify their biological sex. A plurality (42.3%) preferred "Are you male, female, or transgender?" to identify their gender identify. For sexual orientation, there were no clear question preferences. Biological sex question preference significantly differed by age (p = .001) and political affiliation (p = .01). Gender identity question preference significantly differed by marital status (p = .006) and political affiliation (p = .005). The results suggest there may be disagreement in question preference in self-reporting biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation in surveillance systems. More research is needed.