Abstract
The objectives of the study were to explore the experiences of school health officers in identifying and managing mental health problems of secondary school students and to gather recommendations from the school officers for improving the effectiveness of mental health care in secondary schools in Can Tho City, Vietnam. We conducted a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews using a semi-structured guideline with 15 school health officers at 15 secondary schools in Can Tho City, Vietnam. Data were analyzed using content-driven analysis to identify recurring themes. The school health officers reported that stress, depression, suicidal ideation, and sexual orientation issues were the most commonly encountered mental health problems among their students. The officers worked with a limited range of interventions for helping these students, such as giving non-narcotic analgesics or advising students to take a short break at school or to go home. Most of them felt that their training was insufficient to deal with mental health problems in an optimal way. They recommended further training to improve their knowledge and skills in recognizing and managing mental health problems in students. They also considered a university-sponsored mental health website a good source of information on mental health care for students. School health officers reported that they did not feel well equipped to manage mental health problems because of insufficient training, lack confidence, and absence of an appropriate network for advice and referral. Updated policies and programs are needed for initial training and refresher courses, which will strengthen the role of school health officers as first line support for secondary school students with mental health problems.
Highlights
The school nurse is the first person a secondary school student will contact in case of a health problem (Fazel, Hoagwood, Stephan, & Ford, 2014; Fazel, Patel, Thomas, & Tol, 2014)
We investigated how school health officers dealt with mental health problems among students, how they felt about their capacity to cope with these issues, and what they needed to better perform their role in supporting students’ mental health
The challenges faced by school health officers in Can Tho City, Vietnam, appeared to be similar in many ways to those reported by school nurses in Western countries, in that they had specialized training in health care for children and adolescents but not in mental health care, and they often felt ill-equipped by training and experience to do a good job of managing mental health problems among high school students
Summary
The school nurse is the first person a secondary school student will contact in case of a health problem (Fazel, Hoagwood, Stephan, & Ford, 2014; Fazel, Patel, Thomas, & Tol, 2014). School nurses are trained to identify basic health conditions and illnesses and to gauge their severity. In most circumstances, they are able to advise students correctly. Several reports have demonstrated that school nurses often do not feel well equipped to provide the support that students with mental health problems may need (Greytak et al, 2019; Rosvall & Nilsson, 2016). School programs aimed at preventing or reducing mental health problems require active
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