Contributing to making the school a safe place for the child: School nurses’ perceptions of their assignment when caring for children having parents with serious physical illness

Abstract

AimTo explore how school nurses perceive their assignment when caring for children having parents with serious physical illness.DesignAn explorative inductive qualitative design.MethodThe study is based on interviews with 16 school nurses. The interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe main category, “Contribute in making the school a safe place for the child”, reveals how the school nurses try to contribute to making the school a safe place for a child when his/her parent has a serious physical illness. They support children through individual support, as well as at an overall level in the school health team to make the school, as an organization, a safe place. Routines and collaboration to recognize the child when his/her parent has become ill is described as crucial to accomplishing this assignment.

What do French school staff know about young carers? A qualitative study about their perceptions

“…Indeed, our results show that healthcare and social professionals and school counsellors were more able to do so than teachers. Those results seem to be consonant with Golsäter et al's study (2017) in which school nurses saw themselves as more able to identify and accompany children with a seriously ill parent. They are more prone to notice somatic indicators such as fatigue, and, along with school counsellors, are more attentive to specific behaviours like social isolation and absenteeism.…”

“…Many professionals expressed not being informed of the youth's situation. This brings to question of the communication regarding youths' situations between school staff and families, who seldom talk about illness (Golsäter et al, 2017). Professionals may also have difficulties broaching the topic of disease with the children and their parents (Fasciano et al, 2007), because of fear or lack of knowledge regarding the disease.…”

“…However, studies focusing on educational professionals are scarce. Recently, Golsäter et al (2017) inquired school nurses' perceptions of children having seriously ill parents and showed that they were not always aware of the parents' situation. Nonetheless, they occupy an important role in supporting, orienting, and accompanying these children.…”

A Philosophical Review of School Nursing Framed by the Holistic Nursing Theory of Barbara Dossey

“…Several studies have shown the importance of the school nurse's professional experience, for example, in meetings with students with mental illness (Jonsson et al, 2017) and with students who have a parent with a serious illness (Golsäter et al, 2017). Studies of school nurses' experiences can be translated into theories and models.…”

Supporting Students with Neurodevelopment Disorders in School Health Care—School Nurses’ Experiences

“…The school nurse plays a pivotal role in maintaining the physical and psychological well-being of students, which may alleviate the burdens placed on the student’s family [ 6 ]. School nurses strive to make the school a safe place for children who are facing difficulties [ 18 ]. Numerous school nurses in our study confirmed that when students with NDDs were under stress, they often chose to visit the school nurse, whether to discuss a particular topic, have a casual conversation, or simply for silent companionship; the main purpose was to provide a safe environment for students.…”