C2.02 - Oral Session: Health Educators in Action: Improving Youth Quality of Life Through Wraparound-based Integrated Care

Brief Abstract Summary: Gain insights into how Certified Health Education Specialists® (CHES®) drive innovation in integrated care through program planning, implementation, and evaluation. Using the Bergen’s Promise Behavioral Health Home as a case study, this session highlights how health educators apply the Wraparound model to address the holistic needs of youth with co-occurring mental and physical health challenges. Attendees will see how needs assessments, cross-sector collaboration, and evaluation strategies, including use of PedsQL™ 4.0, demonstrated significant improvements in health-related quality of life across diverse populations. Discover how program design rooted in continuous quality improvement not only improves youth well-being but also illustrates the power of local action to create broader impact in transforming health through education.

Detailed abstract description: Learn how health educators are leading the way in transforming integrated care for youth by applying program planning, evaluation, and implementation best practices, directly aligned with the Program Planning and Evaluation track. This session presents Bergen’s Promise Behavioral Health Home (BHH), launched in 2014, as a case study that demonstrates how Certified Health Education Specialists® (CHES®) play a pivotal role in designing, delivering, and evaluating holistic, person-centered care.
Grounded in the Wraparound model of care, BHH integrates behavioral health, health education, and wellness supports to meet the needs of youth with co-occurring mental health and chronic physical health conditions. Health educators led every phase of program development, from conducting needs assessments and setting measurable objectives, to designing health education interventions and embedding a robust evaluation framework. Within the program evaluation process, the validated PedsQL™ 4.0 instrument measured pre- and post-intervention changes in health-related quality of life. Results showed clinically and statistically significant improvements in youth participants’ physical, psychosocial, and overall well-being, with no significant differences across demographic groups. This suggests that individualized, Wraparound-based care is effective across diverse populations and contexts.
Attendees will gain strategies for applying implementation science concepts, such as continuous quality improvement and sustainability planning, to ensure programs remain responsive to community needs. This case illustrates the integration of quantitative outcomes measurement with qualitative, family-centered care processes, an approach that strengthens program accountability and highlights innovation in evaluating integrated care. By focusing on lessons learned in overcoming implementation barriers, sustaining cross-sector partnerships, and tailoring evidence-based practices, participants will leave with practical approaches they can replicate and adapt in their own settings.
Aligned with the conference theme, Local Roots, Global Impact: Transforming Health through Education, this presentation illustrates how a locally designed program can model scalable, education-driven approaches to youth mental health that have broader implications for health practice. Participants will recognize the unique contributions of CHES® in advancing integrated care and discover actionable strategies to embed program planning, evaluation, and implementation science into their own work.
This session is ideal for public health educators, program planners, and evaluators seeking to strengthen integrated care approaches, promote equity, and demonstrate impact through evidence-based, sustainable program design. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to design, implement, and monitor health education interventions within integrated care models, and strategies to replicate effective approaches.