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Sex Survey Too Intrusive, Harris Says Health Official Says Answers Would Help County Design Sex-Education Programs

By Dan Hansen danh@spokesman.com

Some members of the Spokane Regional Health Board are balking at a plan to spend up to $10,000 of public money on a sex survey.

Health District staff, working with social service agencies, want to mail the survey to 5,000 county homes selected at random.

The 69-question survey, to be answered by both teens and adults, is designed to determine how much people know about peer pressure and other reasons teens have sex. It does not ask about the respondent’s own sex life.

The information would be used to help design programs to help prevent teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, among other things.

The health board got its first look at a draft of the survey during a presentation Thursday by Torney Smith, who manages the health district department that assesses risks to public health.

“I’ve already got calls on this and none of them were supportive,” said county Commissioner Kate McCaslin, one of six new members on the 11-member health board.

“I don’t like the survey, to put it bluntly,” said Commissioner Phil Harris, who objected to questions about religious affiliation, education and church attendance. “I think it’s intrusive.”

Smith said such questions will be used only to assure the survey gets a representative sampling of the community, not to determine whether some churches and schools do a better job than others of teaching about sex.

“It is vitally important that we know what people’s thoughts and opinions are,” Smith said.

Smith noted that a broad range of groups collaborated on the survey and would benefit from the results.

Among them are Crisis Pregnancy Clinic, which counsels against abortions and offers help to young mothers, Planned Parenthood, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and Group Health Northwest.

The board didn’t kill the project but told Smith not to mail the survey without first letting them see a final copy. After that review, they may vote to drop the survey.

In addition, the board told Smith that if the survey is used, it should be mailed only to specific adults, rather than to households.

To assure randomness, the instructions ask that the survey be completed by the family member who will be the next to have a birthday.

The respondent may be an adult, and should be at least 14, Smith said, because that’s the age at which teens can have abortions or be treated for sexually transmitted diseases without parental consent.

It’s up to parents whether to give the survey to their children. If it is completed by teens, the survey asks that parents not look at the responses.

Spokane City Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes, Medical Lake Mayor Sharie Stearns and Carol Rudy, a pediatric nurse-practitioner, were among the health board members who defended the survey.

“If we don’t understand what the problem is in our community, we won’t know how to address it,” said Holmes.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SOME SURVEY QUESTIONS The Spokane Regional Health District proposes mailing a survey of teenage sexuality to 5,000 city and county residents. Here are some of the questions contained in a draft survey reviewed Thursday by the health board: In this community, how old do you think the average young man is when he first has sexual intercourse? (The same question also is asked about women.) What do you believe are the three main reasons teens are abstinent? What do you believe are the three main reasons teens are sexually active? What might your immediate feelings be if your teen children were to come to you with questions about sexuality? (Respondents pick from 15 multiple-choice responses, including angry, happy, surprised and embarrassed.) For the following questions, respondents are asked whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or aren’t sure. I believe young men (under 18) say they are in love to have sexual intercourse. I believe young women get pregnant to get unconditional love from their babies. I believe many young people who are involved in a teen pregnancy had a poor male role model. I believe sexuality education in school encourages teens to want to have sexual intercourse. Adequate sexuality information is provided in our family.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SOME SURVEY QUESTIONS The Spokane Regional Health District proposes mailing a survey of teenage sexuality to 5,000 city and county residents. Here are some of the questions contained in a draft survey reviewed Thursday by the health board: In this community, how old do you think the average young man is when he first has sexual intercourse? (The same question also is asked about women.) What do you believe are the three main reasons teens are abstinent? What do you believe are the three main reasons teens are sexually active? What might your immediate feelings be if your teen children were to come to you with questions about sexuality? (Respondents pick from 15 multiple-choice responses, including angry, happy, surprised and embarrassed.) For the following questions, respondents are asked whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or aren’t sure. I believe young men (under 18) say they are in love to have sexual intercourse. I believe young women get pregnant to get unconditional love from their babies. I believe many young people who are involved in a teen pregnancy had a poor male role model. I believe sexuality education in school encourages teens to want to have sexual intercourse. Adequate sexuality information is provided in our family.