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School-based body mass index (BMI) screening is required in 50% of states with parent notification letters distributed among 11 of those states. Additional research is needed to effectively communicate screening results to parents. We conducted a pilot investigation of parent acceptability of an electronic, interactive BMI parental notification letter (e-BMI) along with the feasibility of implementing an e-BMI letter in the school setting. In addition, we assessed parental attitudes and practices regarding their child's weight-related behaviors. Electronic letter distribution and parent receipt were consistent with traditional paper letter mailings; however, we did not observe any significant behavioral impacts with either letter format. Parents reported interest in wellness programming offered by the school, a potential opportunity for schools to engage families in healthful practices. Additional research is needed to understand the impact of e-BMI letters and accompanying web-based resources specifically for parents of students with overweight or obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified custodial grandparents' perception of sources of stress that may affect their health and better understand their needs. Findings from this qualitative study are based on thematic analysis of interviews with 10 custodial grandparents. The following themes emerged: 1) grandparents' stress from perceived lack of readiness to care for grandchildren; 2) need for effective communication between and among family members; 3) sufficiency of financial and legal resources; 4) access to community resources, and 5) raising grandchildren reenergizes and revitalizes grandparents' physical and mental health. These findings provide insight into the stressful aspects of the role of raising grandchildren. Understanding stressors affecting custodial grandparents and their grandchildren will help school nurses, social workers, teachers, school administrators and other professionals collaborate to address their challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the school nurse's experience in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine promotion can reduce vaccine disparities. HPV vaccination is critical to cancer prevention. Despite the importance of the school nurse in vaccine promotion, there is a lack of understanding. This article aims to examine the knowledge, attitude, experience, and role of school nurses related to HPV vaccination and promotion in school settings. A systematic search for school nurses and their experiences related to HPV vaccination was conducted. A thematic synthesis was undertaken using the socioecological model. This review highlights the complexity of HPV vaccine promotion in schools over time. Multilevel factors impact nursing practice. Nurses have good vaccine knowledge and positive attitudes. Poor workflow processes, competing demands, and vaccine communication challenge school nurses. The themes that were synthesized informed the LEADS model. With the support of school nurses, reaching the goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural school nurses are on the front lines of providing health care for children and families in rural Colorado, but there is little research from their perspective. To fill this gap, a descriptive phenomenological study examined the experiences of nine rural school nurses through in-person audiotaped interviews. Analysis of data revealed three main themes: (1) rural school nurses' efforts to meet students' extensive physical and mental health issues, (2) school nurses struggle to help rural students in extreme poverty, and (3) communication challenges experienced by rural school nurses. The findings of this study give voice to the experiences and challenges faced by rural school nurses in southern Colorado. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Final Rule on School Wellness Policy requires schools to self-evaluate wellness policies and environments. To understand the utility of this information, this study evaluates the validity of school-reported wellness information against directly observed data. Wellness leaders at 10 Midwestern elementary schools completed a questionnaire spanning nine school wellness settings. School-reported information was compared against a direct observation protocol. Percent agreement and κ statistics were used to assess agreement between school reporters and direct observation. Overall percent agreement between reporters and direct observation was 77.1%. Agreement ranged from 67.3% (Lunchroom Environment) to 92.0% (School Wellness Policies) across the nine categories. κ results showed that 65.7% of the items demonstrated fair or better reporter agreement. The results provide preliminary support for the utility of schools' self-reported wellness information. Facilitation of independent reporting on wellness environments by school leaders will contribute to broader applications for school wellness programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many factors impact an adolescent's willingness to appropriately use health-care services and intent to begin the health-care transition process. Published literature continues to show that the way adolescents experience and utilize health-care services is ineffective and has long-term impacts on individuals and systems. Building upon the success of an existing peer-to-peer workshop, a Toolkit was created to provide school-based health professionals the information and resources needed to deliver pertinent information to high school students in one lesson. Of 416 students, over two thirds reported that they plan to be more involved in their health care (69.8%), advocate for themselves in health-care settings (68.0%), talk openly and honestly with health-care providers (71.9%), and learn more about managing their own health care (68.6%). Integrating this information into existing health curricula provided a broader reach with minimal work and promising results that could improve overall health-care transition efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pennsylvania responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing schools and moving to online instruction in March 2020. We surveyed Pennsylvania school nurses (N = 350) in May 2020 to assess the impact of COVID-19 on nurses' concerns about returning to school and impact on practice. Data were analyzed using χ2 tests and regression analyses. Urban school nurses were more concerned about returning to the school building without a COVID-19 vaccine than rural nurses (OR = 1.58, 95% CI [1.05, 2.38]). Nurses in urban locales were more likely to report being asked for guidance on COVID-19 (OR = 1.69, 95% CI [1.06, 2.68]), modify communication practices (OR = 2.33, 95% CI [1.42, 3.82]), and be "very/extremely concerned" about their safety (OR = 2.16, 95% CI [1.35, 3.44]). Locale and student density are important factors to consider when resuming in-person instruction; however, schools should recognize school nurses for their vital role in health communication to assist in pandemic preparedness and response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the social influences, self-efficacy, and communication with parents, peers, and teachers associated with teenage pregnancy is required owing to the consequences of teenage pregnancy. This article aimed to determine the prevalence of teenage pregnancy and to understand the association between social influences, self-efficacy, and communication about teenage pregnancies, among high school students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Grade 11 students at 20 randomly selected schools in two districts completed an anonymous questionnaire on sociodemographics, social influences, self-efficacy communication, and teenage pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy was associated with age, being female, and exposure to communication discouraging pregnancy. Students living with both parents, or where family and peers believed that the adolescents should abstain from sex, or who experienced positive social pressure discouraging pregnancy were unlikely to have had a pregnancy. This study identified sociodemographic and sociobehavioral influences associated with teenage pregnancy that can assist school nurses in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequently, a nurse's first and only contact with a graduate school, legislator, public health official, professional organization, or school nursing colleague is made through e-mail. The format, the content, and the appearance of the e-mail create a virtual first impression. Nurses can manage their image and the image of the profession by communicating electronically in a manner appropriate for the professional role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem: Stakeholders often misunderstand the role of the school nurse resulting in underutilization or elimination of school nurse positions. Social media and school nurse websites are recommended to increase school nurse visibility and change the public narrative of school nursing. Objective: The objective of this needs assessment is to determine whether school nurses are using web presence to increase their visibility to affect the narrative of school nursing. Method: An evaluation was conducted to determine the presence and content of school nurse websites in 50 schools and their school districts across the nation. Results: Fewer than one third of school nurses have websites, three fourths of districts have a school district health websites, and there was no evidence of a nurse in 10% of the school websites assessed. Anticipated Contribution to Practice: The needs assessment determined that nurses are not maximizing school websites to communicate their role to stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If special educators cannot identify pain in students with intellectual disability (ID), students cannot be referred to the school nurse for assessment and management. The purpose of this study was to examine how special educators identify pain in the school setting. Twenty-four special educators participated in focus groups aiming to (1) identify educators' observations and perceptions of pain in students with ID and (2) determine the decision-making processes educators use to determine the need for student presentation or referral to the health office. Overall, special educators know students well enough to differentiate pain-related behaviors from normal well-child behaviors, prioritize student safety, and draw on personal experiences with pain when addressing pain in students with ID. Special educators welcome opportunities to learn more about pain in children with ID. Teachers, nurses, and other professionals should share knowledge about and experiences of working with students in pain to improve practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined information on pubertal changes provided by school nurses to adolescent girls, the methods, and media of communication. We also examined the challenges faced by the nurses in the course of communication. The study setting was five private high schools located in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Participants were 10 school nurses and 420 school adolescent girls. Cross-sectional descriptive design was employed using quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Results showed school nurses paid more attention to physical body changes, menarche, and menstrual hygiene as contents of pubertal communication rather than contraception, prevention of sexually transmitted infection, and teenage pregnancy prevention. Materials for communication were reportedly lacking in many of the schools while the school management censors pubertal information. Efforts should be tailored at equipping the school clinic with audiovisual aids and school nurses should be encouraged to give comprehensive pubertal education irrespective of their values and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a key intervention in the prevention of HPV infection and associated cancers. This review emphasizes the importance of understanding what influences decision-making about this vaccine. Guided by the work of Whittemore and Knafl, and Pluye and Hong, we identified 25 studies, from which four prominent themes emerged: fear and risk, pain, parental involvement, and involvement of others. Fear of cervical cancer was a strong motivation to receive the vaccine, and the extent of parental involvement also had an impact on decision-making. Recommendations to receive the vaccine by health-care providers were also an important influence. School nurses are fundamental to the promotion and delivery of the HPV vaccine and should stress the significant role that it plays in the prevention of cancer. Additionally, school nurses should ensure that discussions about HPV infection and vaccine include parents where appropriate and should distinctly recommend vaccination to those eligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School nurses cite barriers to collecting comprehensive data on the care they provide. This study evaluated the feasibility of collecting school nurse data on selected child health and education outcomes. Outcome variables included school health office visits; health provider, parent, and staff communication; early dismissal; and medications administered. On an average day, the school nurses cared for 43.5 students, administered 14 medications, and averaged of 17 daily communications. Day 1 data collection times averaged 15 min or less. By Day 5, 6.6 min was needed to complete the survey. Data collection was feasible for 76% of those who elected to participate. Feasibility is enhanced by limiting the number of data points and the number of days for data collection using a data collection web interface. Data collection across large numbers of nurses and a wide range of school nurse delivery models is necessary to measure the impact of school nurse presence and interventions on child health and education outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents who attend high school as preparatory boarding students are growing up and learning to care for themselves in a very different set of circumstances than those who live at home with their families. Although this choice may present myriad opportunities for personal growth and academic advantages, nurturance and support from caring adults is necessary to foster health and well-being. Our model of a collaborative relationship between nursing and counseling in providing health services to the adolescents in our care at St. Mark’s School is designed to effectively meet this challenge. While it is true that a very small percentage of adolescents attend preparatory boarding schools in the United States, this article is an attempt to present our working model for consideration by other school nurses and counselors in our field of practice, especially since there is a lack of professionally relevant current literature for reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore school nurses’ experience of challenges related to documenting schoolchildren’s psychosocial health in Sweden. Six focus group discussions were carried out. Areas for discussions included questions about situations, especially challenging to document as well as what constrains and/or facilitates documenting psychosocial health problem issues. Qualitative content analysis was used for interpreting the data. The analysis resulted in one overarching theme: having to do one’s duty and being afraid of doing wrong; and three subthemes: uncertainty related to one’s own ability, concerns related to future consequences, and strategies to handle the documentation. School nurses relying on their intuition and using a structured documentation model may increase the opportunities for a reliable documentation. To further develop their professional skills with regular, clinical supervision can be of great importance. This in turn may increase contributions to research and development for the benefit of schoolchildren’s psychosocial health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children of Latino immigrants in the United States encounter ecological stressors that heighten their risk for depressive symptoms, externalizing behavior, and problems in school. Studies have shown that affirming parent–child communication is protective of child depressive symptoms and accompanying problems. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of an adapted mother–child communication intervention for Latino immigrant mothers and their fourth- to sixth-grade children delivered after school. The intervention, Family Communication (“Comunicación Familiar”), was delivered at children’s elementary schools in six sessions lasting 2 hr each. Significant improvements were found in children’s reports of problem-solving communication, with their mother and mothers’ reports of reduced family conflict. Strengths of the intervention are improved mother–child communication, acquisition of communication skills that can transfer to relationships within the classroom, and a design that allows delivery by nurses or other professional members of the school support team. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]