UCLA Health Care Institute

The UCLA Health Care Institute (HCI), housed under the UCLA Anderson School of Management, has taught a management systems approach for successful implementation of health promotion interventions in Head Start for nearly 20 years. By building leadership and management capacity in organizations serving early childhood needs, HCI enables early childhood organizations to empower families with knowledge, tools and resources to prevent disease and adopt sustainable, healthy lifestyles. HCI has a portfolio of low literacy health education topics that are culturally sensitive and includes: sick day management and injury prevention; trauma informed care training to promote staff wellness; mental health and wellness; oral health promotion; and diabetes and obesity prevention. Since 2001, the HCI has trained over 200,000 families in 7 languages and in 50 states. Its training methodology is used by over 300 Head Start grantees and has consistently delivered measurable outcomes in improving knowledge, changing behavior, and reducing unnecessary utilization of health care services. 

HCI provides a structured set of tools and processes for strategic implementation of health promotion, and incorporates various learning formats: in-person education sessions, reading materials and toolkits, webinars and parent trainings. Organization teams also participate in a mock parent-training session that allows teams to experience firsthand what parents would experience during a parent training session. As a result, HCI can: increase school attendance, increase parent’s work attendance, increase staff, parent, and community engagement, improve the health literacy of staff and families, and strengthen community partnerships.

For more information, please visit the UCLA Health Care Institute website.

Last updated
January 4, 2024