The burden of childhood visual impairment and disparities in access to pediatric vision care remain pressing issues in the United States. School-based vision programs (SBVPs) serve as one approach to advancing health equity. Operating at the intersection of schools and healthcare, SBVPs can increase access to pediatric vision services, improve…

Despite the prevalence and negative consequences of depressive disorders among youth, as well as the need for schools to adopt and implement a continuum of mental health services to address depressive disorders, school mental health providers receive very limited guidance in the selection and application of appropriate evidence-based depression…

There is substantial research evidence for the effectiveness of school mental health strategies across problem areas, developmental levels, and the prevention-intervention spectrum. At the same time, it is clear that the education and mental health fields continue to struggle to apply this evidence at any level of scale. This commentary reflects…

School-based health centers (SBHCs) have been suggested as potential medical homes, yet minimal attention has been paid to measuring their patient-centered medical home (PCMH) implementation. The purposes of this article were to (1) develop an index to measure PCMH attributes in SBHCs, (2) use the SBHC PCMH Index to compare PCMH capacity between…

School-based mental health services are those delivered by school-employed and community-employed providers in school buildings. With the implementation of provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) that funds school-based health centers, school-based mental health services could become more broadly available in…

Questions persist regarding implementation of mental health promotion, prevention, and early intervention initiatives in schools. To date, attention has targeted the "Whats" and "Hows" in design and implementation. Ongoing clarification of "Who" the key proponents are working in this space receives less consideration.…

Despite innovations in the screening and early identification of students who may benefit from school mental health services, many schools struggle to link screening to intervention decisions, particularly at the Tier 2 level. Universal complete mental health screening, which measures strengths along with risk factors, is a strength-based approach…

Chapin Hall has been conducting an implementation and evaluability study of the ECCI (Early Childhood Cluster Initiative) project since the midway point of its first year. As described in the authors' first report (Spielberger & Goyette, 2006), the initiative made considerable progress in its initial year, particularly in implementing the…

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's School Health Index (SHI), a guide for completing a coordinated school-based program needs assessment relative to healthy eating, physical activity, a tobacco-free lifestyle, and prevention of other health risk behaviors and conditions, was used to assess current programming at 3…

Identifies leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States, describes youth behavior that contributes to these causes, and outlines ways in which a school program might address these health and social problems among students. Also describes research and development strategies to help schools implement health programs and suggests…

Describes the development and testing of a model to help schools assess their likelihood of successfully implementing health education innovations. Illustrates the model, developed using an integrative group-process technique that captures experts' qualitative and quantitative judgments as a subjective Bayesian probability model, with 100…

This summary report presents data on the health services offered by the Detroit (Michigan) public schools. Data were collected through a survey developed by the school system, and a response was received from a staff member at each school in the district. It appears that a wide variety of health services are provided throughout the city school…

This paper examines the cultural politics that arise when the decision is made to place health services in schools and suggests ways in which the different discourses that surface regarding program implementation might be reconciled. The policy analyses for the paper were based on a 2-year statewide evaluation of a supplemental school health…

A 1987 model for a coordinated school health program included a healthy environment, comprehensive health education, physical education, health and nutrition services, counseling, staff health promotion, and family and community involvement. Effective programs in two low-resource areas--Providence, Rhode Island, and Animas, New Mexico--are…

The School Health Demonstration Program (SHDP), undertaken in 1981, is a coordinated effort by the New York State Departments of Health, Education, and Social Services to provide direct health care, health promotion/illness prevention, and health education to children from low income communities with inadequate access to primary health care…