The relationship between school-based health centers and the learning environment

Abstract

Background: School-based health centers (SBHCs) have improved access to primary and preventive health care for underserved children and youth by bringing comprehensive health services into the schools while addressing critical health problems that make it difficult for students to learn. Despite the findings on the positive effects of SBHCs on health outcomes, the literature investigating the relationship between SBHCs and the learning environment is scant. This purpose of this study is to add to the literature by investigating the correlation between SBHCs and perceptions of the overall school learning environment.

Methods: This study investigates the relationship between SBHCs and the learning environment utilizing a retrospective quasi-experimental design. Researchers used secondary data from the 2007 Board of Education Learning Environment Survey (LES) of a large northeastern city to compare schools with SBHCs and schools without SBHCs.

Results: The findings demonstrate that the presence of a SBHC is associated with greater satisfaction in 3 out of 4 learning environment domains.

Conclusions: Perhaps by helping to eliminate the barriers that affect lower-performing students' readiness to learn, while improving student and parent engagement, SBHCs can partner with schools to reach their performance and accountability goals.