The purpose of this interdisciplinary descriptive study was to examine the perceptions of nurses, school personnel, and parents about school reentry for children with cancer and to determine whether activities and services performed supported school reentry. The study also investigated parents' perception of the impact of cancer on their child's academic performance, cognitive ability, and school attendance. Results of the study showed that few activities and services were performed to facilitate children's school reentry by either nurses or school personnel. Parents reported no significant differences in their children's cognitive ability or academic performance. School attendance was significantly lower after diagnosis and therapy. Conclusions were that communication among nurses, school personnel, and parents was a major barrier to providing effective services to students and their parents. Nurses were unsure of how to help parents navigate the school bureaucracy, school personnel felt they needed more information, and parents felt that their children were not receiving all the school reentry services needed. Individuals in this study recommended that a liaison position be created to coordinate services.

The need for successful nutrition interventions is critical as the prevalence of childhood obesity increases. Thus, this pilot project examines the effect of a nutrition education program, Color My Pyramid, on children's nutrition knowledge, self-care practices, activity levels, and nutrition status. Using a pretest-posttest, quasiexperimental design, 126 fourth- and fifth-grade students from experimental and control schools are compared. The intervention program incorporates an online component www.MyPyramid.gov, Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory, and consists of six classes taught over a 3-month period. Results indicated that the program increased nutrition knowledge in the control group. Furthermore, it increased activity time from pretest to posttest and decreased systolic blood pressure for children in both groups; however, there were no significant differences in BMI percentiles. The findings indicate that Color My Pyramid can be successfully employed in school settings and thus support school nursing practice.

Nurses should emphasize the importance of adherence for the full 9 months to this population.

It is essential to examine conflict between patients and health care professionals from the patient's perspective. The purposes of this study were to 1) identify sources of conflict, 2) determine nursing interventions that alleviate conflict, and 3) test a conceptual framework of sources of conflict. This phenomenological study focused on children with cancer and their parents' perceptions of conflicts with health care professionals as well as what they thought helped with such conflicts. Their reports of conflict were compared to C. W. Moore's circle of conflict conceptual framework. A purposive sample of 27 participants (9 children, 14 mothers, and 4 fathers) participated in the study. Study findings showed that conflict occurred between health care professionals and families originating from differences in expectations and desires regarding data, interests, structure, relationships, and values, consistent with C. W. Moore's conceptual framework. Nursing interventions reported by children and parents to be helpful in preventing or alleviating conflict were identified. C. W. Moore's framework may provide a valuable structure for assessing conflict and designing nursing interventions to alleviate conflict.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine parents' reactions to conflict with health care providers and the outcomes of the conflicts. This study builds on previous research that confirmed the occurrence and sources of conflict among these informants. Seventeen parents whose children had a diagnosis of cancer were interviewed in this study. A priori coding was used to identify the specific strategies for dealing with conflict proposed by Rubin and associates. Ginsburg's approach to narrative analysis was used to examine parent's stories. Findings were that parents used the strategies of problem solving, yielding, withdrawing, inaction, and contending identified by Rubin and associates in reaction to conflict with health care providers. Following episodes of contending, many parents in the study reframed the conflict and experienced transformations or turning points, resolving to become more effective advocates for their children. A few of these advocates proceeded to become community activist.