Toolbox

Table of Contents:

How to Use This Site

Downloads: SUMN Toolkit | Intervening Variables | Epi Profile Training from Fall Forums | Frameworks | Glossary | Creating Graphs Using Excel | Online Training

**Some tools previously included under downloads are now included within the SUMN Toolkit links

How to Use This Site:

Data by Topic allows users to run a customized search.  After choosing a topic, you may refine your search by selecting one or more counties or regions.  After selecting location(s), you can further refine your search using the tool bar at the top.   Depending on the topic, you may choose one or more years and choose demographic options (grade, gender, age, race/ethnicity).  You also have the option of displaying the data by either Number or Percent (or Rate).

To get started, simply click on one of the three topics: alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, or click on the Data by Topic tab in the upper right corner.

Use Data by Topic to access maps, charts and trends!

Once you’ve chosen a topic, use the upper left corner of the toolbar to display the data by Map, Bar or Trend: 

  • Map will provide a color-coded map of Minnesota counties, sorted by quintile for the chosen indicator.  Twenty percent (one-fifth) of counties will be colored dark orange—these counties have the highest reported consumption or consequence rates for the chosen indicator.  The darker teal counties have the lowest rates.
  • Bar will display data for the chosen indicator as a bar graph, as compared to the state average.  The Minnesota state average serves as the axis.  Counties with higher rates will show a bar to the right; counties with lower rates will show a bar to the left.  If you customize your search to look at data for 12th grade males, for example, the axis will adjust to reflect the state average for 12th grade males only. 
  • Trend will display data as a line graph, over the chosen time period.  Users may select up to 7 counties or 7 regions to display on one trend graph. 

Data by Location allows users to view multiple indicators (or topics) for one specific county or region.  Once you choose a location, you will be presented with population statistics from the U.S. Census.  Use the tool bar at the top of the page to select one or more topics.  Once you choose a topic, Alcohol Consequences for example, you will be presented with all indicators related to that topic.  To avoid having to scroll through all indicators, use the Data by Topic feature to search for a specific indicator.

To get started, click on County, Region, or State, or use the Data by Location tab in the upper right corner. When your cursor hovers over a county on the county map, the name of that County will appear. The region map is divided by the seven Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Prevention Regions.  By clicking on State, you will automatically be transferred to Minnesota’s population statistics.

Data by Demographic allows users to view multiple indicators (or topics) for one specific demographic (Grade, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Age). Once you choose a demographic you will be presented with state and regional population and indicator data for that specific demographic. All of the available data is displayed at first, but you have the option to select however many indicators you would like to view.

To get started, click on data by demographic, either on the center of the or the top of the home page. Once you have clicked either you will be asked to choose which ever demographic category you would like to view. All of the available data for that demographic is initially shown (not all demographics have data for all indicators), but you are given the option to select or deselect any of the indicators you want. As you scroll down you will find that you can only find state and regional data due to no or very little data being available for certain demographics at local levels.

**For all three types of searches, when data are displayed by percent, the denominator used is dependent on the demographic chosen. If for a chosen indicator, the value displayed for 6th grade males is 5%, that represents 5% of all 6th grade males for the given location and year. It does not represent 5% of all students for the given location and year. For example, if the indicator is Youth Alcohol Use, then 5% of all 6th grade males who answered that particular Minnesota Student Survey question (for that location and year) reported that they had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.

Data Sources: A link to the respective data source will appear below each table unless you use the tool bar to “hide” this information.  A fuller description of the data source can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.  Detailed data source descriptions are also available in the Toolbox.

Population Statistics: To find statistics on population size by race and by age, population density, household income and individuals living below the poverty line, use the Data by Location feature.  Once you choose a location, population statistics from the 2000 U.S. Census will automatically be presented.  Scroll down the page for a link to 2001 through 2007 population estimates.

Tools:  By clicking on the Tool tab, you can choose Community Resources, Reading Room, Toolbox.

  • Lists of Community Resources are provided at the state-, region-, and county-level.  You may scroll down, or click on a region link at the top of the page to jump to the resources for that region.  Under each region, counties are listed alphabetically.
  • The Reading Room is arranged by topic, location, and demographic.  Use the tabs at the top to jump directly to a specific section.  Some suggested sites for further reading can be found in multiple sections.  For example, a report on tobacco use among youth would be listed under Topic: Tobacco and under Demographic: Youth.
  • The Toolbox contains materials on interpreting data, reading tables and graphs, calculating rates, understanding time trends, differentiating between cause and correlation, and between percent difference and percent change, as well as materials used in the Epi Profile Training that was part of the Fall Forums in 2007. 
  • If you would like a community resource, article or link added to www.sumn.org, please submit your request to sumn@invitationhealthinstitute.org.  All requests will be reviewed by the Minnesota State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup.

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Downloads

SUMN Toolkit: Warming Up to SUMN Data

These documents are a combined toolkit for getting the most out of www.sumn.org -- Minnesota's one-stop-shop for local ATOD data. You can either click here [24mb] for the entire SUMN toolkit or click on the following for each of the individual components of the SUMN toolkit. Within the SUMN Toolkit there are three main components that are the framework of the toolkit; Find Data, Analyze and Interpret Data, and Share Data. Within these are the components that can be downloaded individually listed below.

Find Data: Finding and Using Existing Data

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Analyze and Interpret Data: What do the Data Say?

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Share Data: Presenting Data

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Intervening Variables

Intervening variables are factors that have been identified as being strongly related to, and influential in, the occurrence and magnitude of substance use problems and consequences.  Risk and protective factors are types of intervening variables.  Risk factors are individual characteristics and environmental influences associated with an increased vulnerability to the initiation, continuation, or escalation of substance use. Protective factors include individual resilience and other circumstances that are associated with a reduction in the likelihood of substance use (Hawkins & Catalano, 1992).

For each intervening variable listed below, there are a set of local conditions.  Local conditions describe why something is or is not a problem--this is how the intervening variable manifests itself at the local level.  For example, social access/availability is an intervening variable while a related local condition might be alcohol availability at community celebrations.  Local conditions can be monitored and measured using specific indicators.  For the example provided, one specific indicator might be lack of wrist bands for persons under age 21 at community events where alcohol is sold. 

Click on an intervening variable to open a PDF chart listed local conditions for that variable, indicators for each local condition, and potential data sources.

  • Retail Access/Availability: Extent to which alcohol is available for purchase in your community, and how easy it is to purchase

  • Social Access/Availability: Extent to which alcohol can be obtained from friends, associates, family members, or other adults

  • Enforcement: Existence, enforcement, and perception of community, school, worksite, and household policies and laws

  • Promotion/Pricing: Monetary costs of alcohol, extent to which alcohol is promoted, and exposure to promotion

  • Community Norms: Extent to which alcohol use is accepted, or perceived to be accepted

  • Individual Factors: Individuals' behaviors, perceptions, beliefs and knowledge

For more information, view the Program Sharing 2011 session presentation Identifying and Selecting Intervening Variables for Prevention Planning.

Epi Profile Training from Fall Forums

This PowerPoint, presented at the 2007 Epi Profile Fall Forums, describes the Strategic Prevention Framework, provides an overview of basic epidemiological concepts, and highlights the importance of assessing magnitude, severity and time trends.

Download the PowerPoint presentation [4mb]

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Frameworks

This document outlines three tools: Plan, Do, Check, Act; the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Evaluation Framework.

Download the PDF [110kb]

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Glossary

This glossary of epidemiological terms was distributed to participants of the 2007 Epi Profile Fall Forums.

Download the PDF [64kb]

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Creating Graphs Using Excel

This brief tutorial walks you through the steps of creating a graph using Microsoft Excel, using examples from Substance Use in MN (SUMN).

Download the PDF [890 kb]

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Online Training

This is a link to online training that the University of Minnesota School of Public Health offers through the Midwest Center for Life-Long-Learning. Their training consists of modules related to core public health concepts

Click Here

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