Since autumn 2020, boys in the fifth year of school (11-year-old students) in Sweden have been offered human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for free. Drawing from individual interviews with 21 school nurses working in primary schools in one of Sweden's regions, the aim of this study was to explore nurses' strategies and experiences of informing…

Vision plays a key role in a child's development. Early detection and treatment of vision abnormalities decreases future complications. Follow-up vision care is a common problem. Barriers to vision care include financial cost, lack of insurance knowledge to cover costs, and disbelief of vision results. The purpose of this evidence-based pilot…

Background: The accuracy of students' heights and weights measured by school staff for body mass index (BMI) screening/reporting has not been established. This study examined school staffs' measurement accuracy, comparing accuracy by staff- and student-level characteristics. Methods: School staff and researchers measured the height and weight of…

The purpose of the study was to explore how fixed and modifiable family, activity, and school factors affect a student's myopia risk and severity. We used national cross-sectional data from Taiwanese children in Grades 4-6. Bivariate and multivariate analyses, including logistic and ordinary least squares regression, examined factors related to…

The purpose of the study was to describe the range of relative backpack weights of one group of elementary-aged children and the extent to which they exceeded recommended levels. A second purpose was to explore whether gender and age help predict the relative weight of children's backpacks. Ninety-five 8- to 12-year-old elementary school students…

Smoking-related outcome expectation and self-efficacy have been found to be associated with adolescent smoking initiation. There is, however, a lack of appropriate instruments to investigate early adolescents' smoking outcome expectations and antismoking self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Smoking Outcome…

This retrospective quantitative study examined the relationships among gender, Acanthosis Nigricans (AN), body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure (BP) in children attending school Grades 1-9 in Southwest Texas. Of the 34,897 health screening records obtained for the secondary analysis, 32,788 were included for the study. A logistic regression…

Background: Children with vague complaints are without chronic illness, and who repeatedly visit the school nurse may be at risk for limited academic success. This study compares student reports of subjective well-being between children who do and do not repeatedly visit the school nurse with vague complaints. Methods: Children in grades 4 through…

Children of Mexican immigrants are exposed to multiple ecological risks that heighten their likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms. In previous studies, affirming parent-child communication has been found to be protective against depressive symptoms in Hispanic youth. Interventions focused on enhancing communication between parents and…

School nurses can play a key role in the detection of significant refractive error. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a statewide school nurse vision screening program by evaluating the outcomes of screening among first, third, and fifth graders in 10 schools in North Carolina during the 2009-2010 school year. Of the 2,726…

The purpose of this retrospective quantitative study was to examine the relationships among acanthosis nigricans (AN), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), school grade, and gender in children attending elementary school located in South West Texas. Data were collected by attending school district nurses. Researchers reviewed 7,026…

Background/Context: This article addresses which school-level factors contribute to school quality. Previous research has focused on assessing the effects of school-level variables on student-level quality (e.g., achievement). However, the field has been limited in not evaluating the effects of school-level factors directly on measured…

Mexican immigrant mothers and their children encounter many stressors as they adapt to life in the United States. This article reports a secondary data analysis from a school-based home visiting program focused on assisting Mexican immigrant mothers and their children develop problem-solving strategies in dealing with stressors. Data were…

Young adolescents, age 10-15 years, have increasing psychosocial and biomedical health care needs, yet are some of the lowest users of conventional health services. In eastern North Carolina, school-based health centers (SBHCs) provide primary health care to thousands of school-age children in the most rural, medically underserved areas. SBHCs…

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Strategies for Addressing Asthma Within a Coordinated School Health Program" recommends a consulting physician for schools to help manage asthma. The literature examines the effects when a school nurse is present, but the addition of a consulting physician is not well understood. The…