Schoolchildren's health as judged by Swedish school nurses – a national survey

Aims: To use school nurses' knowledge and experience for a better understanding of schoolchildren's health problems and their association to socioeconomic background and gender. Methods: Mail questionnaires were sent to a nationally representative, random sample of Swedish school nurses (n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Scandinavian journal of public health 2008-09, Vol.36 (7), p.690-697
Main Authors:	CLAUSSON, EVA K., KÖHLER, LENNART, BERG, AGNETA
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adolescent Annan samhällsvetenskap Biological and medical sciences Caring sciences Child Child Welfare Data Collection Family Female Folkhälsomedicinska forskningsområden Folkhälsovetenskap gender General aspects health complaints Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Health participants Health Sciences Health Status Health Status Indicators Health Surveys Humans Hälsovetenskap Hälsovetenskaper INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS Life Style Male Medical and Health Sciences Medical sciences MEDICIN Medicin och hälsovetenskap MEDICINE Mental Health Miscellaneous Nurses Nursing Omvårdnad Original articles Other Social Sciences Public health medicine research areas Public health science Public health. Hygiene Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine Samhällsvetenskap school health service School Health Services - manpower School Health Services - organization & administration school nurse schoolchildren Social medicine Social Sciences Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Socialmedicin Socioeconomic Factors socioeconomics Surveys and Questionnaires Sweden - epidemiology TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap Vårdvetenskap
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Summary:	Aims: To use school nurses' knowledge and experience for a better understanding of schoolchildren's health problems and their association to socioeconomic background and gender. Methods: Mail questionnaires were sent to a nationally representative, random sample of Swedish school nurses (n=129). The questionnaire included structured and open-ended questions asking for school nurses' judgement of schoolchildren's health status; changes over the previous two years; estimation of schoolchildren's most common reasons for consulting the school nurse; and estimation of factors influencing schoolchildren's health. Results: Swedish school nurses judged schoolchildren's mental health to have deteriorated during the previous two years with increasing health complaints, especially among girls and in disadvantaged housing areas. Disturbed family relations were considered as one important explanatory factor. Girls were more inclined to consult school nurses with subjective health complaints. Boys more often consulted the nurses with physical injuries. Conclusions: School nurses work closely with the children and meet them continuously during the school age period. They have a genuine knowledge of schoolchildren's health, which should be used even more, both in research and practice. The results may be applicable in other countries with similarly organized school health systems.
ISSN:	1403-4948 1651-1905 1651-1905