Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110354

Marlene Cole, MPH¹, Annette L. Amey, PhD¹, Norma Casas¹, Melanie Deal, MSN, RNC, WHNP¹, Barbara Kass-Annese, RNCNP, MSN¹, Maryjane Puffer, BSN, MPA¹, and Donna Sanders, MPH². (1) Provider Services, California Family Health Council, Inc., 3600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90010, 213-386-5614, colem@cfhc.org, (2) EPA, California Family Health Council, Inc., 3600 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90010

In the mid-1990s, changes in guidelines for prescribing hormonal contraceptive methods and the development of urine-based chlamydia screening reduced barriers to access for high-risk populations by allowing family planning and STD program providers to develop innovative ways to deliver services in non-traditional settings. The California Family Health Council (CFHC) created the Expanded Clinic Access Project for family planning and provided support for the Off-Site Chlamydia Screening Project to reduce barriers to care in California. CFHC provided funding for family planning clinics to deliver services in locations such as parks, drug treatment centers, factories, and homeless shelters. CFHC encouraged the grantees to establish partnerships with businesses, community centers, and social service agencies in order to reach new clients that were unlikely to access family planning or STD screening services in traditional clinic settings. Through evaluation efforts and feedback obtained from providers, CFHC identified effective elements for off-site programs. CFHC created the Toolkit to increase access to reproductive health services in California by providing concrete best practices information on 1) how to determine unmet need for off-site services in their communities, and 2) how to develop effective off-site programs and evaluations. Stakeholders included throughout the process were providers of off-site family planning and chlamydia screening services and California STD Control Branch staff. This presentation will focus on how the Off-Site Toolkit describes the steps involved in identifying unmet need for off-site services, and in planning, developing, implementing and evaluating an off-site program.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to

• Explain two reasons why off-site family planning and chlamydia screening services are preferred over services at a permanent clinic by certain populations.
• Describe two methods to gain agency and community support for an off-site family planning or chlamydia screening program.
• Discuss two ways that a partnership can make an off-site family planning or chlamydia screening program successful.
• Review one tool that may be used to design an evaluation for an off-site family planning or chlamydia screening program.

Keywords: Family Planning, Chlamydia

Related Web page: www.cfhc.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation