The School Based Health Center (SBHC) model of care first emerged in Massachusetts in the 1980’s in a response to the challenges of meeting the health care needs of adolescents. Since 1993, with funding made available through a tax on tobacco products, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) expanded the number of SBHCs. MDPH currently supports 34 SBHCs, of which 24 are located within high schools, 7 within elementary schools and 3 within middle schools. Located within the school building, SBHCs play a role in diminishing some of the access barriers that teens experience at all levels of the health care system. This poster will examine the user profiles of Massachusetts’ SBHCs funded by MDPH. Data for the full school year 1998-1999 were collected using School HealthCare ONLINE!!! Software. This poster will examine and describe enrollment rates, demographic variables of the SBHC users and visit data. Demographic variables examined will include gender, ethnicity, students’ primary language, age, ongoing health problems, and health insurance status. Visits will be classified as preventative, acute or chronic, or counseling or case management. The types of health problems and risk factors encountered by adolescent clients will be discussed. This data will illustrate some of the ways in which SBHCs are essential to providing many children and adolescents with access to comprehensive primary and preventative health care services.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the demogaphic variables of the Massachusetts SBHC population. 2. Discuss the types of services provided to SBHC users. 3. Illustrate the way in which SBHCs are essential to providing youths with comprehensive primary and preventative health care services
Keywords: School-Based Health Care, Adolescent Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Massachusetts Department of Public Health funded School-Based Health Centers
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.