The Healthy Allegheny Teen Survey, or HATS for short, is a research study being conducted jointly by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), Pitt Public Health, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and several local foundations. Over a 12-month period, approximately 1,600 youth, ages 14–19, are being asked to participate in this countywide telephone survey which asks about health and health behaviors. Phone calls will be made to both landline and cellular telephone numbers. Participants who complete the survey receive a $20 gift card in the mail. Phone numbers are randomly selected from all numbers in Allegheny County to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate in the HATS study.
HATS Quick Facts
- Information collected will help the ACHD and local health and public health organizations improve services based on needs of youth in the county
- No names are connected to the survey
- Survey questions are about young people’s health, health behaviors, and other factors that affect health such as neighborhood and school environment and social support
- The HATS survey typically takes 30 minutes to complete
- Topics such as sex, bullying, violence, and drug/alcohol use are asked and collected using an automated system to ensure privacy
- All HATS data are confidential
- This survey has been approved by the University of Pittsburgh’s Institutional Review Board
If you have questions about the HATS study, or do not want to be contacted, please call 412-624-3126 or email at HATS@pitt.edu.
If you have been contacted to participate in the HATS study or doubt the legitimacy of the caller, a current list of our interviewers’ first names is below. All HATS interviewers should identify themselves by their first names when calling. Also know that our interviewers will never ask you for Social Security numbers or any financial information. We do ask for the participant’s name and address at the end of the survey so that we can mail the $20 gift card. This mailing information is not linked in any way to the information we collect in the survey.
HATS Interviewers’ First Names:
- Abby
- Carol
- Courtney
- Fiona
- Kelly
- Jordan
- Eric
- Taali
- Tashayla
