The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #53584

Karen Ann Hacker, MD, MPH¹, Virginia R Chomitz, PhD¹, Judith Palfrey, MD², and David Link, MD³. (1) Institute for Community Health, 119 Windsor Street, Ground Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, 617-665-3829, KHacker@challiance.org, (2) Harvard Children's Initiative, Harvard University, 150 Mount Auburn Street, Cambrdige, MA 02139, (3) Department of Pediatrics, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

Cambridge Public School’s student health surveys have shown that suicide attempts among high school students remained between 6 and 8% for the last six years compared to the state rate of 6% and the national rate of 2.6%. Fifty-six percent of high school students and 42% of middle grade students reported being worried about depression. Hospitalization rates for mental disorders among Cambridge children ages 5-9 and 10-14 from 1994-8 were higher than Massachusetts rates (293 versus 115 and 700 versus 289). These issues led the community to prioritize child mental health for intervention. In response, the Institute for Community Health (ICH) and Harvard Children’s Initiative (HCI) conducted a qualitative assessment of community needs. The resulting report found that families were having difficulty negotiating a fragmented system of care for their children. Recommendations included: increasing training for caregivers on mental health, providing mental health screening for children at key transition points, connecting families to resources, and improving public awareness of child mental health issues. Now an ongoing community effort is underway with a steering committee and six workgroups organized to plan and evaluate action. ICH and HCI are providing infrastructure support along with students from the Harvard School of Public Health. Education, academia, mental health providers, public health, community based agencies, parents, faith community, and city agencies are collaborating. To date, we have successfully applied for several grants, school policies are in revision , and we are linking resources. This collaborative effort illustrates one community’s ability to organize for change.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the elements of a qualitative mental health needs assessment
• Identify steps in developing a community wide infrastructure for action following needs assessment
• Describe a community-based work process that successfully prioritizes actvities to improve child mental health.

Keywords: Child Health, Mental Health

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.