Barriers to school and community health organization collaboration

Background: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (1979) suggests it is necessary for community health and human service agencies and school districts to work in concert to have effective and institutionalized efforts addressing health and education disparities. Recent publications by Basch (2011), Valois, Slade, and Ashford (2011), and ASCD (2011) serve as entry points for school health, public health, and education professionals to collaborative efforts to address health and education disparities. Purpose: To identify barriers to effective collaborations between school districts and community health agencies to increase school-community collaborations to positively impact health and academic performance. Significance: School-community collaborations to address need to expand and evolve to create effectiveness and efficiencies in addressing disparities. Barriers need to be identified before they can be removed. Methodology: School and community health agency public document review; key informant interviews (n=73) and focus groups (n=23) with school personnel, parents, and members of the communities served by the school districts were conducted. Analysis of the qualitative data via key words and themes was conducted. Results: Perceived and real budgetary constraints; lack of recognition of shared vision, values, and goals; perceptions of not being welcome to work within school structures; past negative experiences; and "turf protection" were identified as barriers to school-community collaborations. Conclusions: Schools and community health agencies should identify shared vision, values, and goals as a first step in exploring collaborations that may improve budget challenges through sharing resources. Strategies for facilitating opportunities and overcoming barriers to community and school health professional partnerships will be presented.