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Measuring the impact of school based health centers on student outcomes: An evaluation of school health connection in new orleans


Monday, November 4, 2013

Paul Hutchinson, PhD, Global Health Systems and Development, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Marsha Broussard, DrPH, School Health Connection, Louisiana Public Health Institute, New Orleans, LA
Brittany Booker, MPH, Louisiana Public Health Institute, New Orleans, LA
Since 2009, the Louisiana Public Health Institute's (LPHI) School Health Connection (SHC) program has funded and provided technical support to School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) in a subset of New Orleans public high schools. This paper assesses the role of part-time and full-time SBHCs in improving adolescent health outcomes and risk behaviors. Surveys of high school students in schools with and without SBHCs were conducted in 2009 and again in 2012. Multivariate regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted effects on student health outcomes of being in a school with a full time SBHC relative to a school with a part time SBHC or no SBHC. Relative to students without an SBHC, students in schools with a full-time SBHC were less likely to report unmet need for health care than students without access to an SBHC (p=0.0357), and were more likely to have ever talked to a mental health counselor (p=0.0179); talked to a mental health counselor in the last 12 months (p=0.0019); used SBHC behavioral health in the last 12 months (p=0.0057); been tested for HIV (p=0.0209); and been tested for STDs (p=0.0357). Students in schools with only a part-time SBHC fared no better on nearly all outcomes relative to students in schools without an SBHC. The paucity of significant effects on student health outcomes from part-time SBHCs brings into question the value of such services, while the presence of a full-time SBHC shows promise in yielding considerable improvements in key adolescent outcomes and risk behaviors.

Learning Areas:

Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Explain the role of and services provided by School Health Connection’s School-Based Health Centers. Differentiate the effects of having access to a full-time, part-time, or no SBHC on student health outcomes and risk behaviors. Discuss the value of having a full-time SBHC and the availability of such services for high school students.

Keyword(s): Adolescent Health, School-Based Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conducted the data analysis, evaluation and writing of the abstract.
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.