How school nurses experience and understand everyday pain among adolescents

Abstract

BackgroundPain problems are a rapidly growing health problem found among both children and adolescent, and about 15–30% have reported chronic pain problems. School nurses in Norway meet adolescents with various ailments, including pain. Yet research on how school nurses perceive the pain experienced by adolescents is limited. The aim of the present study was to explore how school nurses explain and experience the everyday pain of adolescents.MethodA qualitative study with an explorative design comprising five focus group interviews. Each group consisted of three to five school nurses. Seventeen female school nurses in five junior high schools in Norway, age range 29–65 years participated. To cover the issues a semi structured interview guide was used. The transcribed text was analysed with qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe experience of school nurses with adolescents’ pain in everyday life is mainly that pain is a social, physical, and psychological phenomenon. School nurses experienced that everyday pain is reflecting: 1) high expectations, 2) difficult relationships and traumatic experiences and 3) an unhealthy lifestyle. School nurses have ambivalent attitudes to medicalisation of pain.ConclusionDespite of a biopsychosocial understanding of pain, the school nurses maintained referral practice of medical examinations, with the results that many adolescents became shuttlecocks in the health system. Although the school nurses´ were sceptical of the tendency towards medicalization in society, it appears that they actually help maintain this tendency.

Health-related quality of life is strongly associated with self-efficacy, self-esteem, loneliness, and stress in 14–15-year-old adolescents: a cross-sectional study

“…It is also a vulnerable period in life, and can be challenging with respect to independence from caregivers, increase of autonomy and social role transitions [ 5 , 6 , 8 – 11 ]. Although the vast majority of Norwegian adolescents are content with their lives and generally report good health [ 16 ], an increasing number of adolescents in Norway and other countries report psychosocial problems and health complaints in everyday life such as loneliness, stress, insufficient and poor-quality sleep, pain and high intake of over-the-counter analgesics (OTC analgesics) [ 9 , 11 – 20 ], indicating a need for continued efforts in health promotion among adolescents.…”

School nurses are able to support adolescents experiencing pain secondary to stress and unhealthy lifestyle choices

“…Recordings were transcribed verbatim for analysis. A phenomenological hermeneutic approach to content analysis was selected 4. The methods employed as well as the approach to data analysis were appropriate for the topic,5 and demonstrate a rigorous approach to qualitative research taken on by the study team.…”

“…As a daily point of healthcare contact for school children, school nurses are responsible for addressing pain in school children so they may fully engage in school activities. The study by Høie and colleagues4 leverages the experiences and opinions of junior high school nurses to determine how these nurses address pain in adolescent school children.…”

The experiences of a nonclinical set of adolescents and young adults living with persistent pain: a qualitative metasynthesis

“…According to McCaffery's [45] definition, pain is "whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever he says it does," and it could seem as if this understanding does not reflect nonclinical pain. The issue of not being believed could mirror the perception that today's young people may be regarded as less sturdy than previous generations [46,47]. Research has revealed the increasing pressure on today's adolescents with greater stress physically, socially, and emotionally [48].…”

“…Studies also show that more girls than boys report pain; moreover, living with pain affects girls more negatively than boys. Further, pain problems can negatively influence a young person's quality of life and health [4,9,10]. Experiencing pain in adolescence is related to pain problems later in adulthood, and research indicates that pain problems might also have serious long-term consequences [11][12][13].…”