336469
Risk and Resilience Factors Associated with Frequency of School-Based Health Center Use
Monday, November 2, 2015
: 1:30 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
Samira Soleimanpour, PhD,
Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Marta Lutsky, MPH, MEd,
Center for Healthy Schools and Communities, Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, San Leandro, CA
Claire Brindis, DrPH,
Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health & Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
School-based health centers (SBHCs) provide critically needed health care to at-risk youth. Previous research has shown that SBHCs attract youth who are generally less likely to access care, particularly non-white youth and males, and improve their receipt of important health care. This study examined cross-sectional survey data (n=4,731) from adolescents in three urban school districts to identify the characteristics of youth who use the SBHC as their “usual” source of care, and those who use the SBHC with high frequency (10+ visits). Youth who reported that the SBHC was their usual source of care were primarily Latino (49%) or African American (20%) and in 11th grade (38%, p<0.001). These youth were more likely to report barriers to receiving care from a doctor/nurse in the past year, such as cost and lack of transportation, than their peers. High frequency SBHC users were more likely to have considered seriously attempting suicide compared to their peers (26% high frequency vs. 17% low frequency and 15% non-users, p<0.001). High frequency SBHC users were also significantly more likely to report “always” getting mental health care when needed compared to their peers (42% high-users, 30% low-users, and 26% non-users, p<0.001). High frequency SBHC users were slightly less likely to report feeling close to people at their school (76% high, 82% low and 79% non-users, p=0.018). These findings hold important relevance to demonstrating the value of SBHCs in increasing hard to reach youth's access to health care, particularly in urban settings.
Learning Areas:
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Describe the characteristics of youth who use school-based health centers as their usual source of health care and with high frequency.
Keyword(s): School-Based Health, Adolescents
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been designing and conducting research and evaluation studies on school health programs for nearly 15 years. My primary research interests focus on examining the impacts of school health programs on children and adolescents' health and academic outcomes.
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.
