Assessment, prevention, and intervention activities in a school-based program for children experiencing homelessness.
A summer school can spot service gaps fast and pull homeless families into counseling, but you still need a plan for steady medical follow-up.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Burack et al. (2004) ran a summer program inside a public school. The kids were homeless or living in shelters. Staff gave check-ups, dental exams, and counseling. They also asked families what they liked and what was missing.
The team kept simple logs. They counted who showed up, who got care, and who still needed help. No fancy stats—just real-world notes.
What they found
Medical and dental visits were spotty. Families moved often, so follow-ups were hard. Yet counseling sessions were packed. Kids and parents said the prevention classes felt useful and friendly.
Bottom line: kids without homes got less routine care but gladly used mental-health and learning support when school offered it.
How this fits with other research
Carr et al. (2016) saw the same pull when they tweaked a parent-training program for low-income families. Simple fixes—bus tokens, flexible times—kept eight families coming. Both studies show: take away small barriers and service use jumps.
Arnold et al. (2026) moved the idea to college. They screened 32 autistic students every month. The checks caught 53 risks and linked 12 students to help. Same story: steady, easy access beats waiting for crises.
Schlundt et al. (1999) ran a diabetes summer school. They got mixed results—kids felt confident but blood sugar stayed flat. Burack et al. (2004) also saw mixed outcomes: happy families yet still patchy medical care. Together they warn: feel-good programs are only step one; you still need to track hard health numbers.
Why it matters
If you work in a school, use summer or after-school slots to test what families really need. Offer counseling first—it draws crowds. Then layer on medical, dental, or parent training. Keep sign-up simple and transport free. Log who comes and who slips away so next year you can close the gaps.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children who experience homelessness are at increased risk for a range of health and mental health problems. In spite of this increased risk, they are often less likely to receive appropriate services. School-based programs offer considerable potential to reduce the gap between needs and appropriate services for these youth; however, there are few examples of such programs in the published literature. This article provides information from a mental and physical health prevention program and needs assessment for at-risk children, who were experiencing homelessness or were from very low-income families, which was piloted during a summer camp program in an urban school. Results of the needs assessment indicated that children residing in homeless shelters reported less consistent access to medical and dental care than children residing with their families. It is interesting that children experiencing homelessness were more likely to report that they had participated in counseling than did children from low-income families. Satisfaction ratings of prevention activities conducted in the program were positive for students and teachers.
Behavior modification, 2004 · doi:10.1177/0145445503259517