Urban elementary school personnel's perceptions of student health and student health needs.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To determine the perceptions of school personnel with regard to urban students' health and health needs as part of a planning process for development and implementation of school-linked health services.

METHODS:
A self-administered, close-ended questionnaire was given to 294 schoolteachers and school staff to assess school personnel perceptions of 1) health needs of students, 2) priority of need for health services or programs delivered on-site or off-site, and 3) selected factors suspected to affect implementation of new school health services.

RESULTS:
A total of 72% of teachers and 77% of staff completed the survey. The most highly ranked need by school personnel was mental health, followed by violence and anger management and physical abuse and domestic violence. The most commonly requested services on-site and off-site were for physical abuse or domestic violence, mental health, and drug or other substance abuse. Only 40% of teachers and staff rated current health services as excellent or good. A total of 72% of teachers and staff had some level of discomfort with their current responsibilities regarding the health of students. Parental involvement was reported to be quite low, with only 9% of teachers and staff rating it as excellent or good.

CONCLUSIONS:
he greatest health care need identified by these elementary school personnel was not for management of chronic or acute physical health conditions, but for mental health services and programs to meet the emotional and psychosocial needs of students. When implementing school-linked or school-based mental health services, focus needs to be placed on 3 areas:
1) education of school health and educational personnel regarding common mental health issues, 2) development of systems that improve knowledge of and connection with mental health resources inside and outside the school, and 3) development of systems that improve communication within the school and between the school and parents regarding health services.

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Author information

Author/s: Mansour, Mona E (ME); Kotagal, Uma P (UP); DeWitt, Thomas G (TG); Rose, Barbara (B); Sherman, Susan N (SN);

Affiliation: Department of General and Community Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3039, USA. mona.mansour(-atsign-)chmcc.org

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Ambulatory pediatrics : the official journal of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (Ambul Pediatr), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2002 Mar-Apr; vol 2 (issue 2) : pp 127-31

Dates: Created 2002/04/02; Completed 2002/05/10; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 11926844, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attitude to Health
Child
Faculty
Humans
Mental Health Services - organization & administration; supply & distribution

Needs Assessment - statistics & numerical data
School Health Services - organization & administration; statistics & numerical data
Students
United States
Urban Health

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