Examining Time to Treatment and the Role of School‐Based Health Centers in a School‐Based Sexually Transmitted Infection Program

Abstract

For students testing positive in the Chicago school-based STI program, time to treatment is accelerated in locations with SBHCs.

Mathematical modeling study of school-based chlamydia screening: potential impact on chlamydia prevalence in intervention schools and surrounding communities

“…Schools have been a venue for the delivery of complex sexual and reproductive health interventions such as sex education initiatives [26] and risk behavior reduction programs [27]. School-based STI screening initiatives can offer opportunities for diagnosis and treatment of STIs among adolescents who may not be able to access sexual health services elsewhere, and therefore reduce time to treatment [14]. A previous study which examined screening in New Orleans high schools during the 1997-1998 school year indicated that the program could be cost-effective and cost-saving [28].…”

“…Sustaining school-based screening requires considerable resources at the local level [9,14]. All screening efforts require funding, infrastructure, and human resources.…”

“…Conversely, if students were better informed due to the availability of school-based screening, they may be more likely to use community services in the future, which would increase the impact of the intervention. Once exposed to the opportunity to undergo STI screening, young people may have an increased awareness of their ability or right to access confidential health services, and they may seek out other sexual health services, including expanded HIV/STI testing or reproductive services, as has been suggested before [14]. Overall, there is a lack of evidence on how school-based screening interventions impact students' current and future engagement with sexual health services, and this question remains an important priority for future research.…”

“…However, a number of factors may contribute to relatively low STI screening rates among adolescents, including relatively low use of preventive care generally [3], as well as concerns about confidentiality that may inhibit use of sexual and reproductive health services more specifically [4]. There are a number of school-based STI screening interventions, which have been or are currently implemented in high schools across the United States [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. A review of STD screening programs in high schools called for increased effort to understand community factors [8], and noted that it has been difficult to determine the impact of school-based screening on chlamydia transmission dynamics for the school population and for the community.…”

Adolescents and Young Adults: Targeting the Unique Challenges of This High Risk Group

“…The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends at least one preventive health visit per year. The data, however, show that only 40-80% of adolescents report a primary care visit within 12 months [9][10][11]. A 2010 study of insured adolescents, revealed that one-third had no preventive care visits between the ages of 13 through 17 years, and another 40% had only one preventive care visit during this 4 year period of their lives [12].…”