Parents and Guardians
The Youth Development Instrument (YDI) is a survey that will be used to assess the health and wellbeing of Grade 11 youth in British Columbia. The survey will ask questions about how youth think and feel, about their social connections, and their plans and thoughts about the future.
What kinds of questions will be on the YDI survey?
We have adapted questions from HELP-UBC’s Early (Kindergarten) and Middle Years (Grades 4, 7) Development instruments regarding social and emotional learning, physical and mental well-being, social well-being, and school experiences. We have also included new questions to account for the fact that note that Grade 11 students are assuming more responsibility in their everyday life, for their health, and for their future, as well as that this comes with a new set of challenges.
For example, we ask students about peer relationships, extracurricular experiences, health behaviours and experiences, knowledge of and comfort with health services inside and outside of school, civic values, civic engagement, thoughts about society, and their plans and concerns for the future. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are also checking in with students about changes in their physical, mental, and social wellbeing, along with strategies they’ve used to cope with challenges during this period. Demographic questions (for example, age, sex, gender identity, racial identity) are also included so that we can understand if there are important differences between groups. The results could help target preventive measures and health and well-being promotion programs.
A full list of YDI topics can be found here.
To see further examples of questions please see our school district reports from previous years.
What will my child’s data be used for? Can I access this data?
The data will be helpful in assessing the health and wellbeing of youth in BC. Through aggregated summary reports for individual school districts and regions, we can look at current well-being for our youth to inform policy-makers and researchers who are interested in developing policies and interventions to improve youth well-being.
For ethical and privacy reasons, students and parents will not be able to access their own/child’s data. We de-identify YDI data so that we as researchers cannot easily see how individual students answered questions.
Summary reports for your child’s school district will be available on this page approximately three months after they complete the survey. Individual school reports are not made public to protect participant confidentiality. Infographics based on YDI data are also available here.
How is my child’s privacy protected?
The survey is confidential—we will not provide students’ individual responses to teachers, school administrators, parents, peers. Additionally, we de-identify YDI data so that we as researchers cannot easily see how individual students answered questions. The YDI is not anonymous because we collect information about participants which allows us to link their responses to the YDI to other surveys like the EDI and MDI and other health and demographic data sources.
I do not want my child to participate. How do I withdraw them from the study?
We completely understand and respect your decision to have your child not involved in the study. You can contact our team directly at ydi@sfu.ca or return the slip that is attached to the passive consent form. Youth can also withdraw themselves from the study at any point before, during, and after taking the YDI survey.
We are a research team at Simon Fraser University, led by Dr. Hasina Samji, in collaboration with the Human Early Learning Partnership at the University of British Columbia, the BC Centre for Disease Control, and several school districts across BC.
How will the survey be delivered? Who will be administering the survey?
Surveys will be delivered electronically during a school-day on school computers or youth’s personal devices. While it will differ between schools, the survey delivery will be supervised by a teacher or administrator at the school familiar with the process who can help students complete the survey.
When will the findings be available?
School district-level reports typically are available in May post survey completion. A global report of aggregate data is shared on our website (chartlab.ca). Typically this report is released about one year after data collection. Students who provide their contact information are also able to receive study infographics of aggregate data 2-3 months after survey implementation (May/June).
Summary reports for your child’s school district will be available on this page approximately three months after they complete the survey. Individual school reports are not made public to protect participant confidentiality. Infographics based on YDI data are also available here.
How can I learn more about the YDI project?
Please free to reach out to our team directly with questions, feedback or concerns on our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you!
