Survey of school nurses' experiences of providing counselling on sexual orientation to high school students in Japan.

Abstract

To ascertain the prevalence and correlated factors of providing consultation on sexual orientation and the characteristics of school nurses in high schools in Japan. Participants were school nurses working in high schools in Aichi prefecture. Items investigated included background, experiences in providing counselling on sexual orientation, the availability of materials and resources for students, and learning experiences concerning how to handle sexual orientation concerns. We divided the respondents into two groups: one group who have provided counselling on sexual orientation before and one group with no such experience. Chi square tests were utilized to compare the responses between groups. Among the respondents, 38.9% (n=140) had previous experience of providing counselling to students on sexual orientation. The group with experience of providing counselling is more likely to have 10-29 years of experience, to work at a senior high school, to be informed on notifications from the Ministry of Education, to have experience of learning how to provide counselling on sexual orientation, and to be aware of effective resources. In Japan, it is expected that the support needs related to LGBTI will become more obvious in the future and efforts to create an environment in which it is easy for young people to consult with school nurses or other support figures are necessary.