Immigrant Children: Results from the 2008 CHHCS Brief Survey
Immigrant Children: Results from the 2008 CHHCS Brief Survey
From July to October 2008, the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) sent a short survey to its weekly newsletter and listserv subscribers to indicate whether their school health programs work with immigrant children and how their health services are affected by these students’ needs.
189 individuals from 46 states completed the survey, with Texas, California, New York, New Mexico, and Massachusetts providing the greatest number of responses. When asked, “Do any of your students/patients come from other countries?” 97.9% responded “yes”. This number has increased over the past three years; when a separate group was asked the same question during a similar survey administered by CHHCS in 2005, 84.5% responded “yes”.
Of the individuals who identified the type of program about which they were responding, 53.4% were reporting on a school nurse program, 27.5% were reporting on a school mental health program, and 23.8% reported “other”. More than one selection was accepted per person.
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing the greatest impact, respondents were asked to rate how affected their program was by cross-cultural communications issues:
Table I. Impact of Cross-Cultural Communications
| |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
Translation Difficulties
|
5.9% |
10.6% |
21.8%
|
27.1% |
28.2% |
| Different Cultural Interpretations of Health or Mental Health Issues |
2.7% |
14.0% |
21.0%
|
31.7% |
21.0% |
| Other |
8.5% |
4.3% |
4.3% |
19.1% |
29.8% |
The response average for “Translation Difficulties” was 3.65 and the response average for “Different Cultural Interpretations of Health of Mental Health Issues” was 3.6.
The final two questions addressed school outreach and hiring patterns. When asked “Does your school make a special effort to reach out to the parents/guardians and families of immigrant children?” 79.9% responded “yes” and 20.1% responded “no”. When asked, “Has your school hired more multicultural/multilingual staff to address the needs of the students/patients from other countries?” 70.9% responded “yes” and 29.1% responded “no”.