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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Lynn Seim, MSN, RN, The Children's Health Fund, 317 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10021, 212-535-9400, lseim@chfund.org and Roy Grant, Division of Community Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, 317 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10021.
Healthy B.A.S.I.C.S. (Building Active Strategies to Inform Children in School) brings simple, culturally relevant health education and promotion materials to school-age children. Developed as a clinical project within The Children's Health Fund's (CHF) national network, this initiative was designed and implemented by a team of nurse practitioners from school-based and school-linked health centers throughout the country. Healthy B.A.S.I.C.S. consists of bilingual brochures, lesson plans, and teaching aids which meet the need for appropriate health education material in medically underserved urban and rural areas in a cost-effective way. Topics include risk reduction ("smart choices"), exercise, hygiene, dental care, self-esteem, and anger management, with different material for boys and girls. Materials may be adapted for individual or group teaching. Positive clinical outcomes can be measured by assessing changes in the child's and family's knowledge, skills, attitude, and belief system. Health providers' willingness to initiate health education and use the materials can also be assessed to measure health promotion activities. This presentation will highlight several important principles of community-based health promotion: building partnerships between health providers and the public schools, the unique role nurses can play, specific suggestions for the design and production of culturally appropriate materials, utilization of resources to address aspects of geographic and cultural diversity, educational considerations, and language use. Healthy B.A.S.I.C:S. is an example of successful partnership between the health care and corporate communities (MetLife Foundation). It is implemented in sixteen CHF sites and numerous schools and communities across the country. Materials are available on the CHF website: www.childrenshealthfund.org.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will be better able to
Keywords: Health Education Strategies, Underserved Populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.