What is it about?
School nurses are medically trained professionals who work in the school and healthcare sector. Their aim is to make the school a health-promoting environment. There is a large body of research available on the effectiveness of interventions by school nurses. However, researchers have increasingly criticized the lack of adequate methodology. The objective of this paper is to critically assess the current state of the relevant literature by applying rigorous quality criteria, such as AMSTAR-2 and GRADE guidelines. The paper analyzes the informational value of reviews and primary studies on the effectiveness of specific interventions on the part of school nurses.
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Why is it important?
There are a number of health-related problems in schools that cannot be addressed by teachers alone. These include chronic health conditions, mental health problems, domestic violence, information on the availability of health-related support services, and much more. The school nurse has an important role to play here. There is a lack of reliable studies to prove the effectiveness of school nurses. Our paper fills this gap. This paper examines reviews and primary studies following strict methodological guidelines and makes clear statements about the effectiveness of school nurses.
Perspectives
Our findings show that the effectiveness of school nurses can be scientifically proven for some health issues. However, there is insufficient evidence to support the finding that the work of school nurses is effective in all areas of health and wellbeing. What we learn from this is that school nurse research faces up to major methodological challenges when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of interventions with variables that are difficult to standardize. For example, some interventions are survey-based or do not include a control group. This leads to huge differences in quality. It is time to establish school nurse-specific quality criteria on which to build up a body of reliable research.
Susanne Heumann
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The current state of international research on the effectiveness of school nurses in promoting the health of children and adolescents: An overview of reviews, PLoS ONE, February 2023, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275724.
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