DATA REPORT

As a LTU student you are given a placement at a secondary school. Recent reports in the media have raised awareness of a study conducted by researchers at LTU on the sexual health of secondary students. Two issues raised in the report have received particular attention about behaviours among secondary school students: alcohol and drug use; and the use of technology and cyberbullying.

The media attention has led to an increase in the number of parents at the school raising concerns about these issues. In response, the school principal has approached the LTU placement students, who are studying Public Health, Rehab Counselling or Health Information Management, and asked them to prepare a response to the report that includes additional analysis of relevant data. This is needed so that teachers in the school are better informed about the research and can answer parents’ questions. The principal makes it clear that the expectation is for “evidence-based reports” as some of the parents “know a lot about this sort of thing and we need to be clear that we know what we are talking about”.

The school has also collected data from two sources:

• A random sample of students in Years 10, 11 and 12
• A focus group with Year 12 students.

Public Health, Rehab Counselling placement students were asked to prepare a report based on the NSASSH report and the focus group data to address the following three research questions.

• How do drinking patterns, in terms of the number of drinks on a day that a student has an alcoholic drink vary for all students in Years 10, 11 and 12 and for male and female students in Years 10, 11 and 12?
• Are any observed differences in drinking patterns for these groups statistically significant?
• Considering the qualitative data available, what are possible explanations for drinking behaviours in Year 12 students?