Formative research and development of a referral toolkit for sexual health services linkages within chicago public high schools

Objective: Linking adolescent students to sexual health services has been recommended to promote overall adolescent health and wellbeing. Support at the school level is needed to develop such linkages, particularly in large, urban districts. Data collection methods: A series of focus groups and interviews were conducted in three high schools piloting sexual health services linkage efforts in Chicago Public Schools. Analytical strategy: All focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using Atlas.ti. Findings: Study participants articulated two central challenges and strategies to address them. To address the first challenge - integrating and coordinating services into the school culture -valueholders suggested increasing communication among school staff members and parents and integrating providers into the school ecosystem. Strategies suggested to address the second challenge - issues of stigma and privacy around seeking services - include offering more than sexual health services, maintaining confidentiality and minimizing staff knowledge of service utilization, increasing staff capacity to meet students' needs and reduce discomfort, and finally partnering with students to disseminate information about service availability and promote utilization. Conclusion: A Toolkit, documenting these suggested strategies and recommendations, was developed and is currently being used to inform ongoing professional development for school staff across the district on how to connect young people to sexual health services. Lessons learned from this process are reported here as well as implications for other schools, districts, and the field.