1. The School Health
Program: A
Component of
Community Health
Chapter 6

2. Introduction
• The school health program has great potential
for affecting health of the community

3. Coordinated School Health Program
• An organized set of policies, procedures, and
activities designed to protect, promote, and
improve the health and well-being of students
and staff

4. CSHP

5. The School Health Council
• Individuals from a school or school district
and its community who work together to
provide advice and aspects of the school health
program
• Should include diverse representation
• Primary role – provide coordination of the
CSHP components

6. The School Nurse
• Can provide great leadership for the CSHP
• Has medical knowledge and formal training
• Has multiple responsibilities
• Often districts do not have resources to hire
full-time nurses

7. Teachers
• Heavy responsibility in making sure the CSHP
works
• Often spend more waking hours with children
than parents

8. The Need for School Health
• An unhealthy child has a difficult time
learning
• Health and success in schools are interrelated
• A CSHP provides the integration of education
and health

9. Foundations of the School Health Program
• School administration that supports the effort
• A well-organized school health council
• Written school health policies

10. School Health Policies
• Steps for creating local health-related policies
include
• Identify the policy development team
• Assess the district’s needs
• Prioritize needs and develop an action plan
• Draft a policy
• Build awareness and support
• Adopt and implement the policy
• Maintain, measure, and evaluate

11. Policy Development
• Should be executed by the school health
council
• Should cover all facets of the school health
program
• Gain approval from key stakeholders

12. Policy Implementation
• Policies only effective if implemented
• Distribute policies to those affected
• Distribute with a memorandum of explanation
• Place in faculty, staff, and student handbooks
• Present them at group meetings (PTO)
• Hold a special meeting for explaining policies
• Place them in the school district newsletter

13. Monitoring Policy Status
• National survey conducted by CDC every 6
years
• Assesses:
• School health policies
• School health practices at the state, district,
school, and classroom levels

14. Components of a CSHP
• Administration and organization
• School health services
• Healthy school environment
• School health education
• Counseling, psychological, and social services
• Physical education
• School nutrition services
• Family/community involvement
• School-site health promotion for staff

15. Administration and Organization
• A CSHP should be administered by a School
Health Coordinator
• Multiple responsibilities
• Often not a position required by states

16. School Health Services
• Health services provided by school health
workers to appraise, protect, and promote
health
• Health screenings, emergency care for injury
and sudden illness, chronic disease
management, communicable disease prevention
and control, health counseling
• Advantages: equitability, confidentiality,
breadth of coverage, user friendliness,
convenience

17. Healthy School Environment
• By law, school districts are required to provide
a safe school environment
• Physical environment
• Buildings and structures, and the behaviors of
those using them
• Location, age, air quality, food service,
temperature, etc.
• Psychosocial environment
• Attitudes, values, feelings of students and staff

18. School Health Education
• The development, delivery, and evaluation of a
planned curriculum
• Priority health content:
• Alcohol and other drugs, healthy eating, mental
and emotional health, personal health and
wellness, physical activity, safety/unintentional
injury prevention, sexual health (abstinence and
risk avoidance), tobacco, violence prevention

19. Development of and Sources of Health
Education Curricula
• Many available from national specialists
• Approved curricula from state departments of
education or health
• Health agencies and associations
• Commercially produced curricula

20. Issues and Concerns of the School Health
Program
• Lack of support for CSHP
• School health curriculum challenges
• School-based health centers
• Violence in schools

21. Lack of Support for CSHP
• Limited success in getting CSHP implemented
across the country
• Need supportive legislation

22. School Health Curriculum Challenges
• Controversy
• Strong opinions on various topics
• Improper implementation
• Often provided by individuals other than health
education specialists
• Barriers to school health education

23. School-Based Health Centers or
School-Linked Health Centers
• Rapidly growing concept
• Provided in different ways; most common is in
school building
• Common features among various centers
• “Cultural wars”
• Funding challenges

24. Violence in Schools
• High profile incidents of violence in schools
• Bullying
• Electronic aggression
• Recommendations for improving school
climate as it relates to violence

25. Discussion Questions
• Why is a CSHP so challenging to implement
in every school district?
• How can schools have more effective health
programs with limited funding?