Needs Assessment of Integrative Health Services at School-Based Health Centers

The purpose of this needs assessment was to hear about adolescents' experience with and interest in accessing integrative health services (IHS) at their school-based health centers (SBHCs) so that future education and service offerings could be better informed.

We surveyed 373 9th to 12th graders, of mostly low-income and minority status, who were enrolled as patients at 6 SBHCs in New York City, New York. Verbal consent was obtained prior to their completing a survey on provided mobile devices.

The 35-item anonymous survey asked about adolescents' health goals, familiarity and experience with 14 different integrative health modalities and interest in learning about and accessing these modalities.

Among all patients, the most common health goal was improving sleep (65%). Before completing the needs assessment survey, almost all patients (98%) had heard of at least 1 integrative health modality and 69% had ever used any modality. On average, patients were interested in learning more about 7.6 of the modalities and were significantly more interested in learning about each modality from trained professionals than from trained peers or by themselves.

Improving sleep was a central health goal for SBHC patients. The majority expressed interest in receiving information on massage, meditation and yoga from trained health professionals, and they wanted access to these modalities at their SBHCs. SBHCs are in a unique position of power in which they can bring desired, cost-effective integrative health modalities to marginalized students. Future efforts should expand provider training to support education on and delivery of these modalities and evaluation of their effectiveness at SBHCs.