Potentials of School Nursing for Strengthening the Health Literacy of Children, Parents and Teachers

Elke de Buhr, Michael Ewers and Antje Tannen
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Elke de Buhr: Berlin Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Michael Ewers: Berlin Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Antje Tannen: Berlin Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Health literacy (HL) plays a key role in explaining health disparities. School nurses (SN) provide health related expertise within the school setting. A positive effect on the HL of children but also their teachers and parents has been suggested by some research, but gaps persist in the available information. As a pilot project, SN, which are not common in German schools, were placed in 28 public elementary and secondary schools in two German states. Children (11+ years, n = 2773), parents (n = 3978) and teachers (n = 420) participated in a 2017 baseline (T0) survey. Data collection was repeated in 2018 (T1). HL was measured using the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children scale (HLSAC) (children) and the European Health Literacy Short Scale (HLS-EU-Q16) (adults). Descriptive and multivariate data analyses were carried out. The HL of all groups increased between T0 and T1. Low child HL decreased from 17.9% to 14.9%. Problematic and inadequate HL dropped from 43.8% to 38.8% among parents and from 49.9% to 45.8% among teachers. Improvements were significant for children and parents but not for the teachers. Despite the relatively short intervention period and a relatively non-specific spectrum of interventions, there is some evidence that SN may contribute to strengthening HL within the school setting. The longer-term effects of SN on health literacy and child health should be further examined. For this, a clearer conceptualization of the scope of work of the SN in Germany including their educational interventions is imperative.

Keywords: health literacy; school nursing; children; parents; teachers; school health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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