Health Information Project: Making Kids HIP on Health

Here are the just some of facts:

·         One in five high school girls report being physically and/or sexually abused in a dating relationship it

·         One in four teens  has a sexually transmitted infection. An estimated 750,000 American girls become pregnant every year, 82% unintentionally

·         Anorexia is the third most common illness among adolescents; almost half of those afflicted show signs of clinical depression

·         Obesity rates in adults and children have more than doubled since the 1970s

·         Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death (after accidents and homicide) for 15-24-year-olds

Mental illness, alcohol and drugs, bullying, and more – the issues threatening the health of American adolescents are daunting.  And, whether kids live in the plushest suburb or deepest inner city, whether they  are rich or poor, smart or not, ignorance about matters affecting their health and wellbeing is pervasive.  Yet, because of budget cuts and an overloaded curriculum, health education disappeared from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in 2008.

Then Risa Berrin founded the Health Information Project (HIP) and put it back.

 A far cry from old-fashioned health ed classes, where teachers read statistics and quoted scare tactics from outdated textbooks, HIP pervades an entire school with a multi-media program that engages everyone in the school community.  Outside, a huge green and white banner shouts, “Be Hip on Health.”   In the hallways, green and white HIP posters advise, “Get your teeth checked every six months,” and “Do not get into a car with someone who is drunk or high.”  In ninth grade classrooms, trained upper-class peer educators, wearing green and white t-shirts bearing the “Be Hip on Health” slogan, weave local news events – like the neighborhood teen recently arrested for drunk driving – into a structured curriculum incorporating interactive discussion, exercises, games,  and multi-media presentations. Classes cover mental health; reproductive health; relationships; alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; nutrition, exercise and obesity; and healthy lifestyle.  The classroom black box welcomes anonymous questions that students were too embarrassed to ask out loud, and incorporates the answers into the curriculum or posts them on social media or in the HIP blog.  On the internet, behip.org provides reputable, reliable local and national information sites as well as health resources in each school’s specific neighborhood.  Social media carry pithy tidbits, links to health-related news items, and encouragement to seek medical care for preventive and acute needs. 

 

Once in a school, the Health Information Project is everywhere, and its impact is apparent. In a testimonial on behip.org Paris Grant, ninth grader at Miami Palmetto High School, wrote,
“I was at a party and my friend was drinking too much and he passed out on the floor. I knew from HIP to take initiative and I took him to the hospital. I ended up saving my friend’s life.”

A 2006 graduate of the University of Miami law school, Risa founded HIP in 2009.  She combined two proven models: the sustainable faculty-sponsored club, like debate or yearbook, and peer education, as in woman to woman breast cancer counseling, which demonstrates how much the messenger matters.  She conceptualized a structure wherein a faculty advisor selected by the principal trains a group of eleventh and twelfth graders as peer educators and guides them as they conducted eight ninth-grade classroom sessions. The eight sessions interrupt a core subject (English? History?) of the principal’s choosing and take place when that class otherwise meets.  Curriculum, detailed and scripted including frequently asked questions and their answers, is written by HIP staff.  Revised as soon as important new information is published, each module is carefully based on scientific papers in consultation with academic and clinical experts. New research and current news are readily incorporated.  When, for example, the Rutgers student committed suicide, the issue found its way into discussions on bullying and LGBT tolerance.

Except for HIP’s first year in a school, when the faculty advisor chooses 20-25 juniors to be peer educators, the prospective peer educators are chosen by a student board with input by the faculty sponsor.  Focus groups of ninth graders have shaped the image of peers they are likely to listen to, and interested tenth graders, who submit a written application and undergo an interview, are evaluated accordingly.

“If you’re [promiscuous]  and you’re getting up and talking about elements of reproductive health, that message gets diluted. So they’ve been very stressed out about the kind of people they let in. they’ve thankfully had the opportunity to kind of pick from the best,” said Risa,  who continues to serve as HIP executive director.

Those selected make a two year commitment so that the seniors can mentor the juniors.
Early in the fall, the faculty advisor attends a full-day train-the-trainer session and then conducts a full-day training for the peer educators. The week prior to each classroom lesson, the peer educators attend additional training, which is focused on the module to be taught.  Having studied the curriculum script in advance, the educators are tested on content as well as presentation and public speaking skills.

Max Weinberg teaches a class of ninth graders at Miami Beach Senior High School

At the outset of the ninth graders’ classes each year, the peer educators ask the students a series of anonymous questions: Have you ever been bullied?  Have you ever contemplated suicide?  The peer educators tally up the responses and report them to the students, who invariably are astonished by the numbers.  Typically, the kids respond, “Wow, I thought I was the only one going through that,” and with that response a positive tone for learning is set.  By the end of the course, much learning has taken place.  Misconceptions have been dispelled.  The ninth graders have learned, for example, that people who suffer from depression are not crazy, that undocumented residents will not get deported if they go to a clinic, that you can get pregnant even if you’re 14 and having sex for the first time.  And with new learning comes better behavior: less derogatory language, less bullying, more tolerance, more use of the website as a resource for themselves, their friends and their family.

With pre- and post-tests, outcomes of the program are measured using quantitative and qualitative indicators of behavior, health knowledge, knowledge of resources, and access to care.  Through partnerships with the University of Miami and Florida International University, HIP has acquired surveys that get the right information and accurately measure need and impact.

The 2011 post-intervention survey, the last year for which complete data is available, shows that 81% learned new health information, 84% grew more comfortable discussing health topics,  89% said they prefer having upperclassmen lead the health presentations, and 83% became more confident in their health knowledge and decision-making skills after receiving the HIP program. The majority of students report that HIP is their number one provider of health information.

The upper class educators benefit as well.  Joyce Saturno, peer health educator at Miami Beach Senior High, wrote on the HIP website, “There was this freshman. She was talking about how she had many suicide attempts…like two or three. It made me realize that she seemed so happy but we really don’t know what’s going on.”

 Erika Schumacher, peer health educator, HIP intern and HIP president at Miami Palmetto High  School, spoke for many when she said, “I used to be so scared of public speaking.  I used to get so red and stutter.”

Indeed, Valerie Berrin, director of operations,  reported, “We love seeing how, in the beginning of the year, there is that health educator who is really shy, gets up and in the training is very uncomfortable with teaching. And by the end of the year you see them. . .  in the classroom injecting their personality like it’s something they’ve always done.”

Data sells the project, and the principals jump at the opportunity to acquire it. The late Roseann Sidener, formerly principal at Beach High, listened to Risa’s presentation for only two minutes before stating, “I want it.”  She said the kids are in desperate need.

Shawna Hutchinson, HIP faculty sponsor and ninth grade teacher at North Miami Beach High School agrees. Her testimonial on the HIP website states, “We have no health education in our high school and HIP is our answer to all the issues our students are facing.”

Teachers don’t mind giving up the core class time to HIP either.  Randy  Milliken, assistant principal at North Miami Beach High School, put it this way:  “If you don’t address these health issues now, those kids are not in class. We are actually increasing the amount of school time by educating students about these issues.”

When the HIP program began in 2009,  two schools participated in the program.  By 2012, there were twelve, including one private school, where HIP augments the school’s surviving health ed curriculum.  In 2013, there will be 24. With 600-800 ninth graders in each, nearly 16,000 freshmen and 600 peer educators will have the benefit of this extraordinary program in the fall.

On HIP Day, in April,  all peer educators from across the county meet at FIU to talk about the impact of the HIP program

From the left: RoberT Dollinger, MD, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs; Scarlett Aldana-Bosch, MBA , Assistant Director of Panther Communities; Risa Berrin;  Veronica Alvarez, MD Candidate 2015, HIP Practicum Project Co-Leader celebrating HIP day, April 4, 2013

Risa says that the program is ready to grow.  This coming fall they will test their ability to manage the program beyond the HIP’s own geographical backyard.  While Risa expects to place the program in every Miami-Dade High School, she also sees that the need is similar throughout the country, and the model can work in any high school. 

All it takes is money.  The administration of HIP, a 501 (c) (3) not for profit organization, is surprisingly lean: a professional staff of three plus two interns.  Office space is donated, and partnerships with FIU and UM add abundant in-kind support.  While participating private schools pay for the program, for public schools it is free.  And each new school adds $10,000 to HIP’s budget. This covers a stipend for the faculty sponsor, building out the website, securing curriculum and training materials, printing health campaign materials, obtaining t-shirts and collecting data.

Health Information Project, Inc.

4601 Ponce de Leon Blvd.
Suite 300
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
Phone: (786) 592-0311
Email: info@behip.org
www.behip.org