Evaluation of a school screening programme for young people from refugee backgrounds

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Child Health
• Refugee Health

Background:

• Newly arrived refugee children face unique health challenges impacting learning.
• A health service delivery framework is crucial for this population.
• Existing services often lack tailored approaches for refugee youth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the development of the Optimising Health and Learning Program.
• To evaluate the program's effectiveness in supporting refugee children's health and education.
• To assess the program's alignment with established health service frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods evaluation including process and impact assessments.
• Involved 294 refugee youth from Intensive English Centres.
• Utilized quantitative (demographics, clinical data) and qualitative (focus groups, interviews, surveys) data collection.

Main Results:

• High program participation (90%) and health screening yield (80% positive for multiple conditions).
• Successful implementation of development strategies and high satisfaction reported.
• Program expanded from one to five centers over four years due to collaboration and funding.

Conclusions:

• The program effectively increased detection of health conditions affecting student health and learning.
• Facilitated linkage to primary health care for refugee students and families.
• Improved care coordination across primary and specialist health services.