Yes. Parent consent is—and has always been—required. SHARP is an opt-in survey. Only students who have parent permission are allowed to take the survey. Students who don’t have permission or who don’t return the consent form are not allowed to take the survey. Parents and caregivers must be given at least 2 weeks to consider the survey and return the consent form. Only students who have parent permission are allowed to take the survey.

Students also get to choose whether to take the SHARP survey. They can choose to skip any questions they don’t understand or don’t want to answer. Students are not rewarded for taking the survey—or penalized if they don’t. Nothing happens if students choose not to take the survey. They just do a different, ungraded activity at their desk if they choose to not to take the survey. Students are given this information before they decide to take SHARP.

No. The SHARP survey is completely anonymous and the data is confidential. The results can in no way be linked to an individual student or their family. Students are not asked for identifying information, like their name or student ID.

Schools which choose to give the survey online are given a unique URL. Students who have permission to take the survey use the URL specific to their school. The online survey does not require students to log in and does not track any identifying information or data associated with their device (like their computer or tablet).

Students in grades 6 through 12 in Utah public schools. Most schools or districts give it to 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. Some districts or schools choose to give it to all 6 through 12 graders. Charter schools may also participate in the SHARP survey.

Students don’t take the survey every year. It’s given in odd years in the Spring.

Sixth graders do not get the same survey as older students. They are not asked demographic questions about sexual orientation or gender identity. The set of questions for 6th graders were modified and changed to better meet younger students’ abilities and needs, based on feedback from parents, school administrators, and public health professionals.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) would like to express our appreciation to the thousands and thousands of Utah students who choose to participate in the SHARP survey each year; as well as our appreciation to their parents for allowing them to do so. Your willingness to participate is such an important and critical piece of so many important efforts and has helped communities throughout the state in many different ways.  

The knowledge we’ve gained from the SHARP survey is invaluable— because it tells us where to look for problems—and solutions.  

We’ve used insight from SHARP data to prevent problems years before other available data sources even determined there was a problem. The process of early detection, finding health problems or concerns early, when they are most easily treated, and before they become more serious, is one of the most important parts of our work. The long-term effects of information we’ve learned from adolescents aren’t just limited to one particular topic. The reach of this knowledge has a ripple effect into things that may seem unrelated. 

Here are a few of the many, many examples of ways your participation have made things better for all kids in Utah:  

• Utah was the first state in the nation to pass legislation to protect children from the harms of social media. Data from the SHARP survey on mental health and screen time were used in these discussions. Governor Cox has also created the Social Harms campaign to educate parents on the harmful effects of social media on kids.  
• We were able to pass legislation that stopped the sale of vaping products on the internet years before anyone knew it was a problem—only because of your honesty answering questions about vaping.  
• We created the See through the Vape program to help educate parents on the dangers of vaping and how to start a conversation with their child. There’s also resources and quit tools parents can use to help their child.  
• We know parents have a better chance of keeping their kids from ever experimenting with drugs or alcohol if they eat dinner together as a family—no matter what’s on the table—only. 
• There are many mental and emotional health resources and supports that were developed using information from the SHARP survey. The SafeUT app and Live On program are just 2 of these resources that are being used by parents, families, teens, and schools across the state to better understand and support those who are struggling with mental health or suicide.  
• Utah lawmakers have used data from the SHARP survey to expand access to mental and behavioral health resources for all Utahns—and especially our children and teens—across the state.  
• A community-based effort to teach grandparents and older adults to use Ipads to help students that began as a result of SHARP survey data may not seem like it would benefit the older adults as much as it did the students. However, the ripple effect of that effort meant that when the pandemic hit—there were grandparents and older adults in Utah who may have experienced less loneliness—because they were already better prepared and equipped to use technology. 

Contact your local health department, local prevention coordinator, or local school district to learn how the SHARP data is being used in your child’s school and community. 

Reports with aggregate data at the state, region, and demographics level are available online. These reports do not contain any identifying information about students. Local health departments, local prevention coalitions, local schools and school districts, superintendents, health systems, public health professionals, and most importantly, parents use these reports to develop programs and services to help Utah youth and families.  

School district or school-level data reports are not shared publicly online. These reports are only available from your local school district or school. District authorities (like superintendents or lead administrators of charter schools) have password-protected access to see their district-level data in the webtool. These reports do not contain any identifying information about students.  

The raw data is very limited in who can or can't use it and is protected under strict Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Institutional Review Board (IRB) controls. The DHHS IRB controls any data sharing agreements for the raw data files. Only respected researchers in good standing and who are expanding the general sphere of knowledge are considered for data sharing agreements. Individuals wanting to use the raw data for their own purposes are not considered. However, no identifying information about a student is collected in the SHARP survey.  

We do not release data in any of these reports unless there are a minimum of 20 students. This helps protect the confidentiality and data privacy of students and school districts. 

You can find the survey questions below or in your school office. The questions your child gets depend on the grade they are in. Sixth graders do not get the same survey as older students. It's taken during school and takes about 30-45 minutes.

There are 5 different sets of questions used in the SHARP survey. Each form has a core set of questions.

• 6th graders could get 1 of 2 sets of questions, sometimes referred to as the SHARP-PNA 6th grade forms A or B. The set of questions for 6th graders have been modified and changed to better meet younger students’ abilities and needs, based on feedback from parents, caregivers, school administrators, and public health professionals.
• 8th graders could get 1 of 2 sets of questions, sometimes referred to as the SHARP-PNA forms A or B.
• High school students (grades 9 through 12) could get 1 of 3 sets of questions, sometimes referred to as the SHARP-PNA forms A or B or the SHARP-YRBS form.

The online SHARP survey has skip logic built into it. This means a student won’t be asked follow-up questions that don’t apply to them. This shortens the number of questions and time it takes to finish the survey. For example, students won’t be asked any of the follow-up questions about alcohol if they answer “no” they have never drank alcohol.