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Elementary School Parents’/Guardians’ Perceptions of School Health Service Personnel and the Services They Provide *
Author(s) -
Kirchofer Gregg,
Telljohann Susan K.,
Price James H.,
Dake Joseph A.,
Ritchie Martin
Publication year - 2007
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.1746-1561.2007.00240.x
Subject(s) - school nursing , school health , perception , nursing , psychology , medicine , social work , school nurse , family medicine , medical education , neuroscience , economics , economic growth
Background: The school nurse, the school social worker, and the school counselor play an important role in promoting the health of children. Health services in the school setting provide opportunities to appraise, protect, and promote student health. The purpose of this study was to identify parents’ or caregivers’ perceptions and beliefs regarding the importance of schools providing various health services to their elementary school–aged children. In addition, the study examined the levels of parental support for, perceptions of, and contact with school health service personnel. Methods: In 2005, a nationally representative random sample of 369 (51% return rate) parents of elementary school–aged children completed the questionnaire developed for this study. Results: A majority of parents/caregivers reported that their child’s school had a school nurse (78.8%) and counselor (60.5%), but only 22.6% reported their school had a social worker. A majority of parents/caregivers perceived full‐time school nurses (86.3%), school counselors (78.6%), and school social workers (56.3%) as important or extremely important and that schools should be held responsible for having each in their child’s elementary school. A majority of parents/caregivers were willing to pay an increase in yearly tax dollars to have full‐time school health personnel. Conclusions: This study established a level of parental support for, perceptions of, and contact with school health service personnel. Parents were most supportive of school nurses and should be perceived as allies in ensuring job security.