Community Health Survey I

Many teenagers have sex, and when they do, they can get pregnant and catch diseases.

Some of the diseases they catch, like gonorrhea and chlamydia, can be life changing. Other diseases, like syphilis and HIV, can be life threatening. These diseases can be passed from person to person

Teenagers also get pregnant. As a pregnant teenager, it is very difficult to graduate from high school and pursue higher education. This makes it harder for teenage moms to get decent paying jobs, sometimes resulting in a cycle of poverty and teenage pregnancy which may continue for generations.

In 2004, teen pregnancy cost Georgia taxpayers $344 million and resulted in 16,508 births to teen moms ages 15-19 in our state. Equally concerning, there were also over 17,000 reported cases of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia in 15-19 year old Georgians during that year.

We can make a difference with this growing problem. We need you to help by honestly answering the following questions:

  1. Are you the parent or guardian of a pre-teen or teenager?
    yesno
     

  2. Which school do they go to?

     

  3. Are you worried that your child is having sex, may catch a disease, or may get pregnant?
    yesno
     
  4. Have you ever talked to your child about sex, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, condoms, and how not to get pregnant or get someone else pregnant?
     yesno

            If not, why not?
          too uncomfortablethought about it but did not say it hoped somebody else would do itthought they already knew it
     

  5. Do you think it would be helpful for your local health department to have sessions at school to talk about how diseases are spread, prevent pregnancy or answer basic questions? 
    yesno
     

  6. Would you be against your health department teaching a class or answering questions for you child at school?
    yesno
     
  7. Does your child know that people can get sexually transmitted disease including HIV testing and pregnancy testing at the health department?
    yesno

We would also like some basic information about the people completing the survey. Please answer the following questions:

What is your age?

What is your race/ethnicity?

What is your zip code?

Thanks for your help! Please feel free to give an extra copy of this survey to anyone you know with a preteen or teenage child. Surveys can be dropped off at your local health department or completed online at www.southwestgeorgiapublichealth.org.