The Impact of a Student-Led Health Education Clinic on the Health Literacy and Behaviors of a Rural Community in the State of Pennsylvania, USA

Rural populations experience a number of disparities that place them at increased risk of morbidity and mortality related to chronic disease, including lower health literacy and greater distance to medical care. Community-based free healthcare education can offer targeted preventive care to these vu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of community health 2024-06, Vol.49 (3), p.458-465
Main Authors: Short, Hannah B., Guare, Emma G., Spanos, Katherine, Karakoleva, Ema V., Patel, Devika, Truong, Nguyen, Huang, Michael, Lehman, Erik, Mendez-Miller, Megan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictions
Behavior Change
Behavior Modification
Cancer
Cancer screening
Children
Chronic illnesses
Community and Environmental Psychology
Community Relations
Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus
Education
Ethics
Health care
Health education
Health literacy
Health Promotion
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Health services
Hypertension
Immunization
Literacy
Medical Services
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental health
Morbidity
Original Paper
Outreach Programs
Populations
Quantitative research
Rural areas
Rural communities
Rural populations
Skin cancer
Statistical Analysis
Students
Vaccination
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Summary:Rural populations experience a number of disparities that place them at increased risk of morbidity and mortality related to chronic disease, including lower health literacy and greater distance to medical care. Community-based free healthcare education can offer targeted preventive care to these vulnerable populations; however, limited quantitative research exists measuring their impact, specifically on health literacy and likelihood for behavior change. To investigate this, a student-led health education clinic was held in January 2023 in the rural community of Lykens, Pennsylvania by the Student-run and Collaborative Outreach Program for Health Equity (SCOPE). Fifty-five pre- and post-clinic surveys using Likert-style questions measured the knowledge and likelihood of behavioral change for several preventive health topics, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cancer screenings, childhood vaccinations, skin cancer, mental health, addiction, and nutrition. From pre- to post-clinic, there was a significant increase in knowledge of hypertension (p = 0.023) and diabetes (p = 0.014), likelihood of attending cancer screenings (p = 0.038), and confidence in identifying cancerous moles (p = 
ISSN:0094-5145
1573-3610
1573-3610
DOI:10.1007/s10900-023-01306-5