308225
Adolescent School-Based Health Center Users Report Higher Health Self-Efficacy and Better Experiences of Care
We examined aspects of quality of care and health engagement using data from seven SBHCs in Colorado and New Mexico. High school SBHC-users completed the previously-validated Youth Engagement with Health Services (YEHS!) survey on an iPad as part of a federally-funded SBHC quality improvement project.
The majority of the 221 respondents were Hispanic (77%) and female (78%); median age was 16 years. The majority reported low/medium socioeconomic status and over a quarter (29%) reported being uninsured. Three-quarters reported sexual activity and 38% reported being at-risk for depression. In the past year, respondents had accessed SBHC services including: behavioral health care (25% of respondents), well-child checks (45%), reproductive health care (38%), and acute care (34%). Over 30% of respondents received all of their care at SBHCs. Almost three-quarters (71%) of respondents reported receiving all or most of their care at the SBHC (usual SBHC-users) and 29% were non-usual SBHC-users. In comparison with non-usual SBHC-users, usual SBHC-users reported a better Experience of Care score (p<.01) and a higher Health Self-Efficacy score (p<.01) indicating that SBHCs provide positive health care experiences and promote active health engagement for youth.
SBHCs offer an ideal healthcare delivery option for adolescents and represent an important part of the public health care system. Adolescents with access to SBHCs receive youth-friendly primary and behavioral health services in an environment that fosters actively engaged healthcare consumers.
Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practiceProvision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy
Learning Objectives:
Describe the comparative advantage of School-based Health Centers (SBHCs) in delivering accessible and youth-friendly care to adolescents.
Identify the populations served by SBHCs in New Mexico and Colorado.
Compare adolescent's experience of care and health self-efficacy at SBHCs to other health care settings.
Keyword(s): Adolescents, Quality of Care
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the New Mexico Program Manager on the CHIPRA School-Based Health Improvement Project and serve as a Quality Improvement coach for the 10 NM sites participating this this demonstration grant. I work closely with colleagues in Colorado and project evaluators to collect and analyse School-Based Health Center (SBHC) data, including the Youth-Engagement in Health Services survey. I have a background in Health Policy and my research interests include healthcare access and quality.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.