Developing a Culturally Competent Health and Behavioral Health Assessment Tool for Rural Schools

Residents of rural communities are often more vulnerable to health and behavioral health problems due to limited access to healthcare. Schools are well positioned to improve access through school-based services for students and families. A key step in improving access to care in schools is an effective assessment process. The purpose of this project was to develop and pilot a brief integrated health assessment for school-based health clinics in rural Alabama. The project relied on an existing partnership between university researchers and community stakeholders in rural school-based clinics. In response to concerns that the existing assessment process was too time consuming and not well suited for rural schools, the partnership aimed to develop a more efficient and relevant assessment tool. The partnership developed a brief 30-item assessment, which was administered to 1,625 students in five schools. The pilot implementation suggests that the new measure is feasible as a universal screening tool for identifying students in need of follow-up services for health and behavioral health risks.