Abstract
BackgroundThe role of the school nurse is complex with many possible elements identified by previous research. The aim of this study is to understand perceptions of the role of the school nurse in order to support school nurses in the delivery of health education.MethodsThe study used an inductive, qualitative research design involving semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Participants were recruited from four NHS trusts across England and final sample size was thirty one school nurses. Three focus groups and two interviews took place in person, and three interviews were over the phone. Data was thematically analysed.ResultsSchool nurses described six main themes. Four themes directly related to the school nurse role: the main roles of a school nurse, school nurses' role in health education, prioritisation of workload and activities, and community work. A further two other themes related to the delivery of health education: the school nursing system and educational resources.ConclusionsThe role of the school nurse in England is very diverse and the school nurse role in health education is primarily to advise and support schools, rather than to directly deliver education. The study identified that tailored public health educational resources are needed to support school nurses.
Highlights
The role of the school nurse is complex with many possible elements identified by previous research
This study aims to understand the role of the school nurse from the perspective of the school nurse, using qualitative research methods, in order to better support school nurses in the delivery of health promotion and education
Four themes directly related to the school nurse role: the main roles of a school nurse, school nurses' role in health education, prioritisation of workload and activities, and community work
Summary
The role of the school nurse is complex with many possible elements identified by previous research. The aim of this study is to understand perceptions of the role of the school nurse in order to support school nurses in the delivery of health education. In order to support this limited workforce and their multidisciplinary work, the role of the school nurse in the Healthy Child Programme in England is clearly defined locally [1]. School nurses are key to improving children and young people’s health and wellbeing by delivering health promotion, providing health advice, signposting to other services, active treatment, education, family support, protection, safeguarding, service coordination and multi-agency work [4,5,6,7,8]. While there are many common elements described within the role of school nurses, there is confusion about the school nurse’s exact role [9, 10] and lack of clarification about the role of school nurses in health education and promotion has been well documented [11,12,13,14,15]
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