Coordinated School Health
There is a growing acknowledgement that children’s health status directly affects their ability to learn and achieve academically. It is difficult for children to be successful if they are tired, hungry, stressed, using drugs or alcohol, or being abused. Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP) is a way to improve children’s health and remove barriers to learning. CSHP teaches children how to make healthy choices and helps them become healthy adults through linking parents, schools, and communities.
What is Coordinated School Health
A CSHP model consists of eight interactive components. Schools by themselves cannot, and should not be expected to address the nation's most serious health and social problems. Families, health care workers, the media, religious organizations, community organizations that serve youth, and young people themselves also must be systematically involved. However, schools could provide a critical facility in which many agencies might work together to maintain the well-being of young people.
How Coordinated School Health Can Benefit Students and Schools
Students benefit from consistent, reinforces message that supports healthy behaviors. Schools with effective CSHP have reported the following:
- Reduced school absenteeism
- Fewer behavior problems in the classroom
- Improved student performance-higher test scores, more alert students and more positive attitudes among students
- New levels of cooperation and collaboration among parents, teachers, school and health officials, and organizations within the community
- A more positive spirit among educators and their students
- The inclusion of health awareness in the fabric of children's lives
- Young people who are more prepared to become productive members of their communities and who can better cope with the world around them
Efforts involving schools and communities can reduce risky behaviors, such as smoking, drinking and drug use. Some evaluated efforts have helped students learn to eat well, exercise more frequently, or improve their school performance. Others have decreased fighting at school, cut down on course failure, lowered rates of teen pregnancy, and/or decreased depression and suicidal behavior.
Source: Why Support a Coordinated Approach to School Health, American Association of State and Territorial Health Officers
