Enhancing Parent Consent for School-Based Primary and Reproductive Health Care Among Vulnerable Youth

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Healthcare Access
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• School-based health clinics are vital for providing primary and reproductive healthcare.
• Parental consent is a significant barrier to adolescent access in these settings.
• Hispanic immigrant communities face unique challenges in healthcare access.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate procedures for increasing parental consent for student access to school-based health clinics.
• To improve healthcare access for adolescents aged 13-18+ in a U.S. Southwest Hispanic immigrant neighborhood.

Main Methods:

• A quality-improvement initiative implemented six sequential consent-retrieval procedures.
• Procedures included school registration, competition, hand delivery, parent-teacher organization meetings, self-consent, and mail.
• Data on age, grade, and completed consents were collected and compared.

Main Results:

• The percentage of students with completed consents increased from 35% to 72%.
• Multiple strategies were tested to improve consent rates.
• Despite challenges, a significant increase in consent was achieved.

Conclusions:

• Increasing completed consents for school-based health services is challenging but crucial.
• Enhanced consent procedures improve adolescent access to essential primary and reproductive healthcare.
• This initiative highlights the importance of addressing barriers to healthcare access in underserved communities.