Delivering sexual and reproductive health services in school-based health centers: An evaluation of SRH service provision in the SBHC Reproductive Health Project

The goal of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene School-Based Health Center Reproductive Health Project (SBHC RHP) is to reduce unintended teen pregnancy through increasing access to and assuring quality of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services provided in NYC SBHCs. We will present on intermediate outcomes including adherence to protocols, clinic utilization, use of birth control by sexually active (SA) students, and pregnancy testing. Data sources include baseline and annual site assessments and individual-level clinic visit data from January 1, 2009 thru June 30, 2011. During the study period, 42,332 students at 39 SBHCs made 189,360 clinic visits. Visits in the first 6 months of data collection serve as a baseline. At baseline, 26% of students in SBHC schools visited the SBHC, which increased to 40% in Year 3. At baseline, 55% of sites dispensed Oral Contraceptives, 52% dispensed Depo-Provera or NuvaRing and 17% offered pregnancy testing on-demand. In Year 3, all sites dispensed all methods and four sites were inserting IUDs. Furthermore, all sites offered pregnancy testing on-demand. Among SA patients utilizing the SBHC, the percentage using any birth control increased from 73% to 78%, hormonal birth control or IUDs increased from 45% to 49%, and pregnancy testing increased from 57% to 76% from baseline to Project Year 3. The SBHC RHP has increased utilization of the SBHCs and contraceptive use by high school students over the three years of the project via improved and standardized SRH care for teens in participating SBHCs.