Abstract
BackgroundExploring the impact of injury and injury severity on academic outcomes could assist to identify characteristics of young people likely to require learning support services. This study aims to compare scholastic performance and high school completion of young people hospitalised for an injury compared to young people not hospitalised for an injury by injury severity; and to examine factors influencing scholastic performance and school completion.MethodA population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalised for an injury during 2005–2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked birth, health, education and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, gender and residential postcode. Generalised linear mixed modelling examined risk of performance below the national minimum standard (NMS) on the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and generalised linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for injured young people compared to matched peers.ResultsInjured young people had a higher risk of not achieving the NMS compared to their matched peers for numeracy (ARR: 1.12; 95%CI 1.06–1.17), reading (ARR: 1.09; 95%CI 1.04–1.13), spelling (ARR: 1.13; 95%CI 1.09–1.18), grammar (ARR: 1.11; 95%CI 1.06–1.15), and writing (ARR: 1.07; 95%CI 1.04–1.11). As injury severity increased from minor to serious, the risk of not achieving the NMS generally increased for injured young people compared to matched peers. Injured young people had almost twice the risk of not completing high school at year 10 (ARR: 2.17; 95%CI 1.73–2.72), year 11 (ARR: 1.95; 95%CI 1.78–2.14) or year 12 (ARR: 1.93; 95%CI 1.78–2.08) compared to matched peers.ConclusionsThe identification of characteristics of young people most likely to encounter problems in the academic environment after sustaining an injury is important to facilitate the potential need for learning support. Assessing learning needs and monitoring return-to-school progress post-injury may aid identification of any ongoing learning support requirements.
Highlights
Exploring the impact of injury and injury severity on academic outcomes could assist to identify charac‐ teristics of young people likely to require learning support services
Injured young people had a higher risk of not achieving the national minimum standard (NMS) compared to their matched peers for numeracy (ARR: 1.12; 95%confidence intervals (CIs) 1.06–1.17), reading (ARR: 1.09; 95%CI 1.04–1.13), spelling (ARR: 1.13; 95%CI 1.09–1.18), grammar (ARR: 1.11; 95%CI 1.06–1.15), and writing (ARR: 1.07; 95%CI 1.04–1.11)
As injury severity increased from minor to serious, the risk of not achieving the NMS generally increased for injured young people compared to matched peers
Summary
Exploring the impact of injury and injury severity on academic outcomes could assist to identify charac‐ teristics of young people likely to require learning support services. An injury can have an adverse impact on a young person’s health, development, and school performance [4, 5]. The more serious the injury, the greater the negative impact on a young person’s psychological and physical health [6, 7]. A young person’s ability to learn and concentrate can be interrupted, with physical disability shown to negatively influence cognitive skills [10, 11]. Along with problems with cognitive performance, a seriously injured young person may experience psychological and physical health problems that could adversely affect their academic performance [6, 7]. Interrupted education can have a cumulative effect, resulting in a young person not completing high school or undertaking tertiary studies, and limiting future employment opportunities [14, 18]
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