The Relationship Between the Use of Health Clinics in Rural Mississippi Schools and the CHIP-AE Adolescent Health Profile

Abstract

School health clinics are one way to meet the objectives in Healthy People 2010 for adolescent health. To determine the relationship between adolescent health status and use of the school health clinics in four Mississippi high schools, the Child Health and Illness Profile–Adolescent Edition (CHIP-AE) was used. The CHIP-AE identifies health status, giving scores on resilience, comfort, risks, and satisfaction, resulting in health profiles. One hundred seventy-one 9th-graders participated in this descriptive study. Students with the highest discomfort and risk scores had no use of the school health clinic. Students with fair health profiles were the highest users of the school health clinic when compared to all other profiles. Of those students with very poor health status, 60% reported the school health clinic was their only source of health care. In this study, the term school health clinic refers to the health office staffed by a nurse without an advanced degree.