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By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
The results of the most recent MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey, which was conducted in 2014, will be the topic of a presentation on Wednesday, March 9 in the Medfield High auditorium at 6:30 p.m.
The speakers will include Susan Cowell, head of the Medfield Public Schools Wellness Department, and Christi Barney, a mental health expert from Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.
The presentation will explain what the results of the survey, which showed an increase in the stress, “feelings of sadness, and suicidal thoughts” for students in Medfield.
In a press release Cowell, who has been in charge of the biannual survey since 2006, explained, “On the positive side, the survey showed a decline in cigarette and marijuana use, however, the uptick in areas related to mental health are very concerning.
The survey also showed concerning trends in bullying and cyberbullying, distracted driving, sleep deprivation, high-risk alcohol use, unhealthy weight loss and body image issues, and the use of e-cigarettes or “vaping.”
The survey is issued by the MetroWest Health Foundation and is used to help “monitor health and risk behaviors” among adolescents and teens in the region. More than 40,000 students in grades 6-12 from 25 communities took part in the latest survey.
Cowell noted, “Medfield is not alone in trying to address student stress and related mental health issues – it’s a problem affecting youth across the MetroWest region and beyond.”
Medfield superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Marsden added, “It is critical that all of us, the school community and greater Medfield community, become more aware of the issues impacting the health of our youth and identify ways we can work together to support them.”
For more information about the regional results of the survey, visit www.mwhealth.org.
Josh Perry is an Editor at Hometown Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
