Premium
Visits by Elementary School Children to the School Nurse
Author(s) -
Stephenson Charlotte
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.1983.tb01117.x
Subject(s) - illness behavior , socialization , psychology , distress , school health , psychological distress , physical illness , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , nursing , psychiatry , mental health , medical education
Various factors seem to influence health seeking and illness behavior in childhood, among which are early socialization, modeling behavior in adults, the labeling of illness and psychological distress. The characteristics of a group of elementary school children who visited the nurse's office were observed and descriptive data were obtained on 551 students during a six‐month period. Correlation analysis of the data was made. The conclusion of the study supported the following ideas: 1) health seeking and illness behavior was a learned process; 2) there was no differences noted in the frequency of visitation by boys or girls; and 3) recurrent health problems contributed to the frequency of visitation. The role of the school nurse in assessing potential physical and or psychological problems was affirmed.