Health Literacy Training Reduced ER and Clinic Visits and Boosted Parents'
Confidence
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- New research proves that a "dose"
of hands-on health care training can transform parents' abilities to care
for common childhood ailments at home -- and save Medicaid millions of
dollars annually.
Tracking 9,240 Head Start families enrolled in a health literacy
program -- and impacting nearly 20,000 children in 35 states -- researchers
found that visits to a hospital ER or clinic dropped by 58 percent and 42
percent, respectively, as parents opted to treat their children's fevers,
colds and earaches at home. This added up to a potential annual savings to
Medicaid of $554 per family in direct costs associated with such visits, or
about $5.1 million annually, according to the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health
Care Institute for Head Start, which conducted the study.
Moreover, parents' being better informed about handling their
children's health needs translated to a 42 percent drop in the average
number of days lost at work (from 6.7 to 3.8) and 29 percent drop in days
children lost at school (from 13.3 to 9.5). Parents also reported feeling
more confident in making health care decisions and in sharing knowledge
with others in their families and communities.
Underwritten by Johnson & Johnson, the program carried a one-time cost
of $60 per family on average, including pre-visits, hands-on training
sessions and post-training follow up. Using $320 as the average cost for a
visit to a hospital's emergency room and $80 for a clinic visit,
researchers at UCLA Anderson School of Management, which houses the
Institute, estimated that savings could reach many millions per year if
training were provided for the nearly one million families served by Head
Start, many of whom depend on Medicaid. The Institute's 10-year goal is to
serve 400,000 Head Start families, reaching approximately half the Head
Start agencies in the United States.
"Head Start parents want to be the first line of defense in their
children's health care, and our research leaves no doubt that they can be,
once they have the tools to make the best choices," said Ariella Herman,
Ph.D., Research Director of the Health Care Institute at UCLA Anderson
School of Management and author of the study(1), which builds on the
findings of the Institute's groundbreaking pilot study that was published
in 2004.
What to Do at 99.5 Degrees F
Parents were surveyed about their family's health care habits three
months prior to the training and six months afterward.
At the outset, 60 percent said that they did not have a health book at
home to reference when a child fell ill. As part of the study, each Head
Start family was given a low-literacy medical guide, What to Do When Your
Child Gets Sick, by Gloria Mayer, R.N., and Ann Kuklierus, R.N., which
offers clear information on more than 50 common childhood illnesses. The
Health Care Institute training is adapted to various languages and cultural
needs of the participating families.
Prior to the training, parents said they were "very confident" about
caring for their sick children -- yet, in reality 69 percent reported
taking a child to a doctor or clinic at the first sign of illness. Almost
45 percent said they would take their child to a clinic or emergency room
for a cough rather than provide care at home, with 43 percent doing so for
a mild temperature of 99.5 degrees F.
Post training, researchers found a marked improvement in parents' self
confidence, with only 32 percent indicating that they would still go first
to a doctor or clinic. More significantly, the number of parents using the
medical guide as a first source of help jumped from five percent to 48
percent, indicating a better understanding and higher comfort level in
dealing with common childhood illnesses.
"The Health Care Institute has provided a creative and practical
solution for parents, giving them access to essential information and the
confidence to address their children's basic health care needs," said
Sharon D'Agostino, Vice President, Corporate Contributions and Community
Relations for Johnson & Johnson. "The program has also helped these parents
set a powerful example for others in the community, and is playing a role
in raising the quality of health care in the communities where it has been
implemented."
Program Success Attracts More Support
Earlier this year, the State of New Mexico adopted the Health Care
Institute's training program with support from Pfizer and will begin
implementation this month with 5,000 Head Start families. Washington State
Governor Chris Gregoire has also signed on and is currently planning a
pilot implementation for an estimated 6,800 Head Start and Early Childhood
Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) families.
"Clearly, the health care training model can be easily replicated in
many more states and by countless other community-based groups, extending
the ripple effect far beyond Head Start families and significantly
increasing the benefits to our health care system exponentially," Dr.
Herman said.
Inspired by Head Start Directors
The Health Care Institute is an outgrowth of the UCLA-Johnson & Johnson
Head Start Fellows Program, comprised of Head Start agency directors who
have gone through management training at UCLA Anderson School of
Management. Founded in 1991, 1050 Head Start directors have participated in
the Fellows program to date, under the leadership of Senior Associate Dean
Alfred E. Osborne, Jr., Faculty Director of the Harold and Pauline Price
Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
According to Dr. Osborne, the Head Start Fellows recognized that if
parents could become better informed about fundamental health issues, it
could lead directly to healthier outcomes for their children. "The
leadership of Head Start directors has enabled the Health Care Institute to
produce these benefits for families across the country and, ultimately, for
Medicaid," noted Dr. Osborne. "Their discipline, integrity, operational
abilities and single-minded focus have enriched the lives of countless
children in the U.S. -- and now, helped them be healthier."
For more information (including charts), please visit the website at
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/hci.xml. B-roll is also available.
About the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute
The UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute was inspired by Head
Start Directors who were graduates of the Head Start-Johnson & Johnson
Management Fellows Program, an annual training program held at the UCLA
Anderson School of Management. Founded in 1991, it is the only executive
management program of its kind. In 2000, a survey of Head Start-Johnson &
Johnson Fellows from around the U.S. revealed a shared concern: parents
simply lacked the time and basic health care knowledge to become better
informed about their children's health. The Fellows, all Head Start
Directors themselves, believed that better informed parents could lead
directly to healthier outcomes for their children.
Johnson & Johnson is the world's most comprehensive and broadly based
manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related
services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and
diagnostics markets. The more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating
companies employ approximately 120,000 men and women in 57 countries and
sell products throughout the world.
(1) Empowering Parents, Benefiting Children: A Study of the Impact of
Health Literacy Training on Head Start Parents and the Healthcare System
SOURCE UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute
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Related links:
http://www.jnj.com
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/hci.xml
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CONTACT:
Jill S. Gabbe, jill.gabbe@gabbe.com, or
Jennifer Robinson, jenn.robinson@gabbe.com, of gabbegroup,
+1-212-220-4444, for Johnson & Johnson
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