School Bathroom Research Articles

Toward promoting resilience of gender and sexually diverse youth in South African rural school ecologies

IntroductionGender and sexually diverse youth in schools experience exclusion, which detrimentally affects their ability to cope with the consequences of minority stress and may lead to absenteeism or dropout. The purpose of the study is to highlight a pressing need for inclusive policies and practices to aid in enabling LGBTQ+ learners in schools.MethodsThis paper explores how multiple systems intersect to promote a sense of inclusion and engagement within the school environment and impact the resilience of LGBTQ+ youth in a rural school setting. This paper presents findings from a qualitative interpretive phenomenological study with twelve purposively selected self-identifying LGBTQ+ youth residing in a rural South African community. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews.ResultsThis study shows the significance of teacher emotional support, addressing homophobic bullying, moving away from gender-based uniform prescriptions and designating some school bathrooms as gender-neutral to LGBTQ+ learners' resilience.ConclusionThe findings of this study demonstrate how certain schools in rural settings employ innovative methods to support LGBTQ+ learners despite limited resources and the absence of comprehensive, inclusive policies on gender and sexually diverse learners. The findings have implications for LGBTQ+ learners in rural community schools worldwide. Future longitudinal studies could focus on how school ecologies inclusive of teachers, parents and the wider community can foster the resilience of LGBTQ+ learners, particularly in rural community contexts.

Scrutinizing the Bathroom Binary: Equal Protection Theories for Nonbinary Students

Over the past decade, transgender students have challenged discriminatory school bathroom policies under the Equal Protection Clause with varying success. But another group of students, facing similar discrimination, has yet to see its day in court. Like their transgender peers, nonbinary students often lack access to gender-appropriate restrooms at school. Many K–12 schools offer only “boys” and “girls” restrooms, ignoring the needs of students who identify as neither boys nor girls, as both of those genders, or as something else entirely. Forced to use sex-segregated bathrooms (or no bathroom at all), nonbinary students suffer adverse health, safety, and educational outcomes. To illustrate pathways to relief, this Note provides an inventory of equal protection claims nonbinary students can make to challenge discriminatory bathroom policies. Each theory—alleging unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of sex, transgender status, or nonbinary status—is promising and limited in its own respect. Independently or together, these theories can support a viable equal protection challenge that triggers heightened scrutiny.

Optimalization of PHBS (Clean and Healthy Living Behavior) with the Formation of Cilik Nurses at SD Sei Petani Medan

Elementary School Sei Petani is a experimental elementary school located in Medan City, North Sumatra with 34 teachers and 326 students and 355 students. PHBS activities at school have the benefit of being able to create a clean and healthy environment, improve the teaching and learning process and students, teachers and the school community become healthy. The problems found are that SD Sei Petani does not have a UKS room at school, SD has never conducted routine health education, students have not received training on Little Nurses. Students have never been given knowledge to perform first aid in accidents (P3K), weight and height measurements are not routinely carried out per 6 months, schools do not provide guidance on school stalls, hand washing with soap activities have never been carried out routinely at school, toilets and school bathrooms are not cleaned regularly, landfills do not meet health requirements. The purpose of this community service is Optimizing PHBS (Clean and Healthy Living Behavior) with the Formation of Little Nurses at SD Sei Petani Medan. Stages of implementation method with 5 stages of activity. activity 1 identifying students' knowledge about PHBS at school, activity 2 education about 8 PHBS activities at school, activity 3 empowering students to become Little Nurses to improve their knowledge and skills as a mobilizer to other students procuring UKS facilities and infrastructure. Activity 4 Procurement of UKS facilities and infrastructure, activity 5 fostering a healthy school environment, namely supervision of garbage, toilets / bathrooms, cleanliness of the school environment and school canteens. The solution offered from the above problems is to empower students by forming little nurses and conducting training for Little Nurses as drivers and supervisors of healthy living behavior in schools, procuring UKS facilities and infrastructure, fostering a healthy school environment, namely supervision of garbage, toilets / bathrooms, cleanliness of the school environment and school canteens.

“The Rosa Parks of the trans bathroom debate”: Gavin Grimm and the racialization of transgender civil rights

ABSTRACT Gavin Grimm, a white transgender boy from Virginia, successfully sued his school board in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board and helped secure the right for trans and gender nonconforming students to use public school bathrooms that correspond to their gender identities. His 2021 victory was the culmination of a long legal battle that began in 2014, when the Gloucester County School Board (GCSB) passed a resolution that segregated bathrooms on the basis of “biological gender.” This essay considers the two GCSB meetings at which this resolution was debated as instances of “ordinary democracy,” where local practices of deliberation not only set policy but also sustain community and produce shared opinion. Drawing on Black trans scholarship that proposes the transitivity of Blackness and demonstrates how Blackness is made present in the service of whiteness, I examine how the discussions at the GCSB meetings strategically mobilized civil rights rhetoric and histories of racial segregation to debate Gavin’s entitlement to public space. Blackness, I argue, is invoked and disavowed as a condition of possibility for modern white trans identities and a resource for vernacular articulations of the scope of trans rights.

Primary school bathrooms as hybrid technologies: materials, objects and practices (Buenos Aires, 1880-1930)

ABSTRACT This article aims to share part of some middle-term research focused on Argentinian school bathrooms. Bathrooms in Argentina emerged around 1850 and have been present – with nuances – in public and domestic buildings since the last third of the nineteenth century. Particularly, primary-school bathroom history is marked by two facts. First, these spaces are closely related to central schooling topics such as behaviours, privacy, intimacy, as well as gender and generational roles. Second, architectural and engineering developments and the proliferation of bathrooms were contemporary processes. The goal here is to trace some relationships between school spaces, materials, objects, and practices present in school bathrooms in the city of Buenos Aires between 1880 and 1930. The focus will be on school bathrooms, but it is also worth mentioning some connections with broader networks such as sanitary bureaucracy and transnational commercial circuits. As a general method, we pursued the Grounded Theory proposal. We worked with several sources: National Council of Education (CNE) files, construction and sanitary regulations, the Sanitary Ministry memories and documents. Due to our interest in objects (for example, sanitary artefacts) and materials, we took in commercial catalogues, a sanitary workers’ journal and archaeological works. First, we will briefly describe some features of the “latrine model”. Then, we would like to discuss the mutation to a more industrialised model, which is the one that persists to this day.

The impact of clean intermittent catheterization on students and families in the school environment.

Clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) is often used for bladder emptying in children with lower urinary tract dysfunction. Until recently, the emphasis in assessing the effects of CIC has been on preserving kidney function, reducing urinary tract infection, and achieving urinary continence. Few studies have investigated the impact of CIC on students and families in a school setting. This study sought to examine what students and caregivers experienced when CIC was required during the school day and how schools adjusted to a student needing to perform it. A phenomenological approach utilizing semistructured interviews was performed to understand the impact of CIC on students. Purposeful sampling identified eligible families. A guide was developed from expert opinion validated by a pilot sample with feedback collated into a family/provider codesigned questionnaire. Interviews emphasized the impact and challenges students faced at school. Transcripts were coded using Dedoose software with emerging themes identified and a code book was created for closed coding that led to thematic analysis. A total of 40 families (52 caregivers and children > 12 years) were interviewed. Emergent themes included: Caregivers and students felt (1) school personnel were not always aware of nor prepared regarding the implications of CIC; (2) school bathrooms were often less than ideal (e.g., location, size, cleanliness, privacy, and availability); and (3) student participation in extracurricular activities was challenging. This study identifies potential areas of intervention in meeting the needs of students who require CIC and the importance of having collaborative efforts of caregivers, health care providers, and school personnel in addressing and meeting CIC needs. Care coordination that involves consistent communication and careful planning between health care teams, school personnel, students, and caregivers can optimize a student's educational experience.

“Girls May Bleed Through Pads Because of Demerits”: Adolescent Girls’ Experiences With Menstruation and School Bathrooms in the U.S.A.

The aim of this study was to better understand the role of school bathrooms in shaping the menstrual experiences of adolescents in the U.S.A. The participants were Black and Latina, low-income adolescent girls (15–19) and adults interacting closely with youth in three U.S.A. cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City). Data collection methods included: (1) Participatory Methodologies (PM) sessions with adolescent girls ( n = 73); (2) In-depth interviews (IDI) with adolescent girls ( n = 12); and (3) Key Informant Interviews (KII) with adults ( n = 23). Malterud’s “systematic text condensation,” an inductive thematic analysis method, was utilized to analyze the various data types (field notes, in-depth interviews, drawings). Key findings include, one, that menstruating girls experience embarrassment and a need for secrecy when accessing school bathrooms; two, the social and physical environments of school bathrooms, including poor design and maintenance, heighten girls’ discomfort, especially while menstruating; and three, school policies restricting students’ bathroom access are problematic for many menstruating students, especially those experiencing heavy and/or unpredictable bleeding. Schools and policymakers need to consider holistic approaches when addressing the menstrual needs of adolescents in U.S.A. schools, including better prioritizing issues related to menstrual stigma, school bathroom design and bathroom access policies.

Adolescent Women's Perspectives on Barriers and Facilitators to High School Bathroom Use.

Bathroom access and use in conjunction with biological urge to void is an important part of optimal bladder health. School settings are uniquely positioned to influence the development of bladder habits. The aim of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to high school bathroom use for adolescent women. A qualitative study design was used to conduct semi-structured interviews focused on experiences with bathroom use while at school. Thirty adolescent women were interviewed, and transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis methods. Barriers included unpleasant bathroom environments, lack of privacy, and school/teacher policies. Facilitators included clean, private bathrooms and menstruation. Improving bathroom cleanliness, privacy, and eliminating policies aimed at controlling bathroom access may reduce barriers to bathroom use. School nurses have a unique role in educating teachers, administrators, and students about the importance of clean bathrooms and policies that support bathroom use in conjunction with biological urge.

Abstract 13408: Vaping Realities: Views From Youth

Introduction: Youth e-cigarette use is a pressing public health issue. To better understand the landscape of youth e-cigarette use, we engaged middle and high schoolers (N=37) in a photovoice project and focus group interviews. Methods: Members of the VAPERACE Center’s Youth Advisory Council documented experiences with vaping through photographs from October 2021-April 2022. A question was posted each month (e.g. Where do you see vaping?), and participants recorded responses through photographs and then discussed these with the group, focusing on how the photographs conveyed the reality of vaping in their lives. They also participated in focus groups with open-ended questions designed to spur conversation about direct experiences with vaping and their related perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs. Using the constant comparative method, participant responses were analyzed for key themes. Results: Overwhelmingly, the photographs and focus group responses indicate that these youth have considerable exposure to vaping. Their photos documented that vaping pervades many aspects of their lives (e.g. in cars and school bathrooms, at parties and sporting events). Comments such as, “It’s everywhere. Everywhere you go. Everywhere you look.” underscore the degree to which youth confront vaping. Additionally, participants said that promotion of vape products was common, from the stores they entered to their social media feeds, and agreed on the power of social media influencers, which were paid more attention than PSAs. Because one “can’t hide from vapes,” one needs strategies to resist use, and these youth emphasized that “exit strategies” and face-saving approaches (e.g. “Thanks, but I’ve got a tennis match.”) worked better than strong, direct messages (e.g. ”No!”). They also expressed concerns about health effects, including CVD, and negative environmental impacts from trash produced by disposable e-cigarettes. Conclusions: The photovoice and focus groups revealed considerable exposure to vaping. Because these youth perceive that exposure cannot be avoided, they emphasized strategies to decline use. Thus, health advocates should consider strengthening educational programming to assist youth in honing refusal skills, especially indirect ones.

Policy attitudes toward adolescents transitioning gender.

Anti-transgender policies and state legislative initiatives that focus on school bathroom use and hormone use have emerged in recent years. These policies are generally written by and voted on by cisgender people, and as such, it is crucial to understand influences on nonaffirming attitudes toward policies that can impact trans youth. The present study aimed to extend research on transphobic attitudes in general to attitudes toward policies that impact youth undergoing transition. Latent variable covariances and structural equation modeling were used to test the relations between transphobia, genderism, homophobia, need for closure, sexual orientation, social dominance orientation, attitudes toward sexual minorities, beliefs about gender roles, aggression, religious fundamentalism, and contact with sexual and gender minority individuals, as they are related to attitudes toward hormone use and bathroom use for trans youth. Analyses of data from a sample of 248 cisgender adults indicated that genderism and transphobia was associated with attitudes toward gender-affirming hormone use and bathroom use for trans youth; need for closure was associated with gender-affirming attitudes toward bathroom use, but was not associated with hormone use. Sexual orientation was linked to attitudes toward gender-affirming policies, such that nonheterosexual participants had more affirming attitudes toward trans youths' bathroom use, but not hormone use. Implications for future research, advocacy efforts to promote rights for trans youth, and clinical work with trans youth and/or parents/guardians of trans youth are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The pedagogy of latrines. A kaleidoscopic look at the history of school bathrooms in Argentina, 1880-1930

ABSTRACT School bathrooms are liminal spaces where notions about intimacy and one’s public persona are configured and where issues such as sex and gender are centrally experienced and proved. These learnings are partially scripted by architectural design and pedagogical rules but not fully captured by them. In this article, I intend to historicise these configurations through an analysis of the trajectories of school bathrooms in Argentina from 1880 to 1930. Grounding on sensorial and material histories of schooling and on architectural and cultural histories, I follow the thread of toilets through school plans, state regulations, photographs, architectural treatises and pedagogical reports. I claim that issues such as the height of doors, the quality of floor and wall materials, the preference for squat or flush-down toilets, or the presence or absence of windows and mirrors, became contested arenas and that they can be projected as fragments of a kaleidoscope, as proposed by Sigfried Giedion, and not as a unified narrative of progress. I conclude that educational research would benefit from paying attention to apparently insignificant elements whose refraction visibilises not the history of purity and civilisation but that of impure hybrids that contained different possibilities.

Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance in School Bathrooms

Antibiotics are a class of compounds that can be used to treat patients with bacterial infections. Although these drugs are largely effective, the widespread use of antibiotics has led to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Since school bathrooms are widely suspected to be unsanitary, we wanted to compare the total amount of bacteria with the amount of bacteria that had ampicillin or streptomycin resistance across different school bathrooms in the Boston area. We hypothesized that because people interact with the faucet, outdoor handle, and indoor handle of the bathroom, based on whether or not they have washed their hands, there would be differences in the quantity of the bacteria presented on these surfaces. Therefore, we predicted certain surfaces of the bathroom would be less sanitary than others. After plating samples with or without antibiotics, we concluded that the only swabbed surface with bacteria was the faucet. As a whole, our results demonstrate that we need to clean our bathroom better in some places more than others. Future research questions could investigate more surfaces in the bathrooms, more bathrooms across Boston, or different times of the day.

JUUL and other stealth vaporisers: hiding the habit from parents and teachers

BackgroundSome consumers wish to use vapour devices discreetly so that family members, teachers and coworkers do not recognise their use of nicotine ortetrahydrocannabinol (THC) laden vapour.MethodsStealthy vapour devices, as well...

Assessment of the hygiene-related risks of child illness at selected elementary schools in Nablus city: a cross-sectional survey

BackgroundThe health and safety of children at schools in Palestine are not paid the attention they require. Our objective was to assess the major risks and patterns associated with hygiene and sanitation at selected schools in Nablus in the West Bank. MethodsA two-layer cross-sectional survey was implemented to collect data on hygiene, sanitation, and bacterial contamination from pupils and staff at ten urban schools in Nablus. We took swab samples from 199 children's and eight food handlers' dominant hands and from 82 school bathrooms and classrooms. We observed and recorded variables related to school hygiene on a pre-prepared form. Bacterial identification for each sample was done at An-Najah National University. Using univariate and multivariate analysis, risk factors related to hygiene and sanitation were tested for individual and combined association with the presence of bacterial species transmitted primarily through fecal-oral contamination. Approval was obtained from the institutional review board committee at An-Najah University and consent forms were signed by children's parents and by food handlers. FindingsOur findings showed non-statistically significant associations between the presence of bacterial species that indicate a substantial risk of fecal-oral contamination (Listeria, Streptococcus, Microccocus, Bacillus subtilis, and Gram-negative bacilli) and the following factors: school address (univariate analysis, p=0·384), absence of soap in the school, absence of hand washing after use of bathroom, increased number of children per classroom, and decreased numbers of teachers, toilets, and sinks per number of students at school (ordinal logistic regression, p=0·084). InterpretationThis pilot study highlights the presence of several risk factors for bacterial contamination, including child behaviour and aspects of the school environment, favouring the possible spread of fecal-oral transmitted diseases. Policy makers' efforts should be turned towards new policies rendering schools a safer place for Palestinian children. This study has to be validated on a larger scale and in other cities in the occupied Palestinian territories. FundingThis research was funded by An-Najah University as a support for research projects of medical students.

Food and drug administration takes steps to curb teen vaping.

Calling the rise in e-cigarette use among youth “nothing short of an epidemic proportion of growth,” the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September announced an aggressive enforcement strategy to target sales to youth along with child-friendly marketing. During a briefing highlighting their latest steps, FDA officials noted that their conclusion about epidemic use is based not just on the results of the agency’s enforcement actions but also on recent sales trends; news coverage; growing concerns among children, parents, and educators; and data that will be finalized and released in the coming months. Also, in September, the FDA launched an expanded version of its Real Cost public education campaign aimed at preventing youth e-cigarette use. That campaign will bring the messages to online sites accessed by teens as well as high school bathrooms.

Patient as a Partner in Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention.

Objectives: The objective of the study was getting to know the knowledge and attitudes towards hand hygiene (HH) among Polish patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods: 459 respondents replied to the survey: 173 (37.6%) patients and 286 (62.3%) HCWs; 57 HCWs were additionally interviewed. Results: Few HCWs knew and used the “5 moments for HH” in the required situations. Both patients and HCWs rated HH of other HCWs poorly: only 75% of patients and 54% of HCWs noticed the application of HH before blood sample collection, but 1/2 of interviewed HCWs did not encounter a request for HH from a patient. According to interviews, 23 (40%) HCWs did not admonish others when they did not use HH. Seventy-five percent of patients and HCWs claimed that, in the past, in schools the toilets were poorly stocked, but the situation improved with the passage of time. Conclusions: There are barriers with resspect to treating patients as partners in HH in Polish hospitals and HCWs’ lack of compliance with the “5 moments for HH” significantly reduces patients’ safety. Practice implications: Education regarding HH should be conducted for the whole society from an early age: lack of proper supplies in school bathrooms impedes the development of positive HH habits.

Protozoa

Protozoa Ella Martinsen Gorham (bio) On a Thursday in May, Noa ditched her friends after school and jumped in a Lyft with Paddy. She wanted to pet his baby moustache in the back seat of the Kia. Instead she floated her arm out the window and bounced it to the hip-hop leaking from his earbuds. The air was warm and dense and sweat curled in the backs of her knees. They rode along Venice Boulevard past shaggy stumps of sawed-off palm trees and sunfaded billboards hemmed in graffiti. Noa's friends Wren and Annaliese messaged her from the carpool lineup: Why the little toad? He'll use you. Roast you. They sent flame emojis. Noa turned away from Paddy, just slightly, so he wouldn't see the messages. Homework at my house, she replied. Wren and Annaliese were still preoccupied with complex cake recipes. They fastened back their sleek hair with headbands tricked out in enormous, furred pompoms. To Noa they seemed all parts light, which was good if you could meet them there, in the light, with the horses. Noa had come to feel like another species around them, a graceless mouth-breather. Their distaste for Paddy held no sway with her. Someday they might understand how it was necessary to take a risk for a boy. Yes, she was afraid. That was the point. ________ Paddy bowled his backpack down the hall and freefell onto the couch in Noa's living room. They played and replayed his latest post, a video poking fun at Callan from school. Paddy roasted people online under the name PaDWack. He had built a fan base after winning the school's slam poetry competition. As his rhymes got meaner his followers adored him more intensely. "This is legit brilliant," Paddy said as he watched himself rap in the school bathroom with his pork pie hat pulled over his eyes: Maestro Callan with his hobo pants. Taking a bath in the school trash cans. Today in the lab he gets a nosebleed. Keep off my keys, and stop picking at these [pointing to his nose]. Callan was an easy target, a loner who used to slide out of his chair and finger his nostrils constantly when they were younger. "Hobo pants, so true," Paddy said. "Told you," Noa said. She'd fed him that line about Callan's jeans, which [End Page 25] were tattered and torn off at the knee. "You're wicked, Protozoa." "Protozoa." She savored the word as she spoke. "The cells?" Paddy said. "I know what they are." In a few weeks they would graduate from the eighth grade at Windsong, where they'd been together since kindergarten. Paddy was set to attend a magnet high school for the highly gifted and sometimes forgot he wasn't smarter than everyone else. Noa was going to the local public school in Venice where her mother said she would develop certain life skills. Paddy rhymed some more: Noa Noa Protozoa, swervy like a boa. They drifted to her room. A faraway lawn mower churred and sun soaked the window above her bed. That morning she had hidden in the closet a model of Hogwarts castle, forty-six posters of boy bands, a bracelet loom. She had placed on the desk a freakish pencil drawing of her father with distorted features, her best one. Paddy, immersed in his phone, paid no attention to any of it. Noa grabbed her giant plush crab and nailed him with it. "Hey!" His hat fell to the floor and he quickly stuffed it back on his head. "You have to respect the lid." Cowlicks made his hair stand in odd clumps. He'd worn a hat to cover it for years, a knit beanie or a bucket hat or his most recent pork pie. At some point he'd become known as Paddington instead of Trevor, his real name. As he pushed her onto the bed a laugh caught in her throat, her heart beating savagely. He dove next to her and cupped his lips over hers, teeth knocking on teeth. His had white plastic buttons of invisible braces on them...

Conflict and Compromise in American Religious Politics: A Review Essay

IS COMPROMISE POSSIBLE WHEN IT COMES to religious politics? The answer often appears to be no. Nearly every day seems to offer more evidence of the unbridgeable divisions in this country that are being created by religious difference. Just consider the events in the few weeks prior to the time when I finished this review. In North Carolina, state officials moved to stop local governments from issuing nondiscrimination ordinances. In Mississippi, a new religious liberty law was adopted that allows medical professionals and wedding-related businesses to deny their services to couples based on their religious beliefs. And in South Dakota, the governor vetoed a law that required transgender students to use the school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their sex at birth. When events like these are taken into account, it is not surprising that some scholars have forecast an American politics marked by increasing and unending religious conflict. For example, in his influential book Culture Wars, James Davison Hunter famously argued that American society was being split into two opposing camps based on differing perspectives on the ultimate source of moral authority. On the one side, you have the orthodox, individuals who are committed to the idea of universal, eternal moral truth. On the other, you have the progressives, those who instead believe that morality is more relative and shaped by the time in which we live. When people cannot even agree on basic moral standards, what hope is there for a peaceful politics?

Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction in Elementary School Children: Results of a Cross-Sectional Teacher Survey

Lower urinary tract dysfunction in school-aged children is common andyet data are lacking on current teacher practice regarding bathroom use anddaytime incontinence during classroom hours. We determined the prevalence of elementary school teachers who promote lower urinary tract health andidentified predictors for and against such behavioral promotion. We performed an electronic cross-sectional survey among self-identified teachers using targeted social media advertisement during a 1-week period in July 2014. The empirical survey tool consisted of 27 questions and collected data on 5 principal domains, including 1) teacher demographics, 2)rules and regulations on water intake and bathroom use during classroom hours, 3) characteristics of school bathrooms in terms of safety, supervision and suitability for use, 4) experience with and management of students with daytime incontinence and 5) training on the topic of lower urinary tract health. Predictors for promoting lower urinary tract health were identified by multivariable logistic regression. Of the 4,166 teachers who completed the survey 88% indicated that theyencourage students to hold urine. Despite strict bathroom protocols 81% ofteachers allowed children unlimited access to water. Of the teachers 82% reported never having undergone any professional development on bathroom regulations for children. Overall only 24% of surveyed teachers met criteria for promoting lower urinary tract health. The odds of promoting lower urinary tract health decreased with ascending grade level (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.76-0.84). Conversely it increased if teaching experience was greater than 5 years (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.39-1.98) or professional development on the subject had been received (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.18-1.70). Of elementary school teachers 76% are not promoting lower urinary tract health in school-aged children. Professional development training on the topics of lower urinary tract dysfunction and/or lower urinary tract health may be beneficial, particularly for educators who teach higher grades and those with less teaching experience.

Promotion of Influenza Prevention Beliefs and Behaviors through Primary School Science Education.

School-based campaigns to improve student health have demonstrated short-term success across various health topics. However, evidence of the effectiveness of programs in promoting healthy beliefs and behaviors is limited. We hypothesized that educational curricula teaching the science behind health promotion would increase student knowledge, beliefs and adherence to healthy behaviors, in this case related to influenza. Integrated Science Education Outreach is a successful education intervention in Rochester, Minnesota public schools that has demonstrated improvements in student learning. Within this program, we designed novel curricula and assessments to determine if gains in knowledge extended to influenza prevention. Further, we coupled InSciEd Out programming with a clinical intervention, Influenza Prevention Prescription Education (IPPE), to compare students' attitudes, intentions and healthy behaviors utilizing surveys and hand hygiene monitoring equipment. 95 students participated in (IPPE) in the intervention school. Talking drawings captured improvement in influenza prevention understanding related to hand washing [pre n=17(43%); post n=30(77%)] and vaccination [pre n=2(5%); post n=15(38%)]. Findings from 1024 surveys from 566 students revealed strong baseline understanding and attitudes related to hand washing and cough etiquette (74% or greater positive responses). Automated hand hygiene monitoring in school bathrooms and classrooms estimated compliance for both soap (overall median 63%, IQR 38% to 100%) and hand sanitizer use (0.04 to 0.24 uses per student per day) but did not show significant pre/ post IPPE differences. Student understanding of principles of influenza prevention was reasonably high. Even with this baseline, InSciEd Out and IPPE improved students' unprompted knowledge of behaviors to prevent influenza, as reflected by talking drawings. This novel metric may be more sensitive in capturing knowledge among students than traditional assessment methods. However, IPPE did not produce further significant differences in student attitudes and behaviors regarding the flu.