title: The health of children in foster care.
abstract: This qualitative study of school nurses describes what the nurses want to do for school children in foster care, what they are actually doing, and how the school organization affects the provision of care. The study looked at the nurses' practice through the lens of the Social Ecological Model of Health, identified interventions using the Minnesota Public Health Intervention Model, and analyzed the school organization using the Bolman-Deal Model (Bolman & Deal, 1997). A purposive sample of nurses was chosen to participate in interviews, and observations of their work and a survey on the frequency of their interventions was implemented. Interviews were analyzed using a phenomenological approach. Four themes derived from the data included structural barriers to client access, nonrecognition of the broad determinants of health, isolationism, and lack of political power. School nurses are aware of foster children's increased health care needs, yet increased services are not provided as a result of a lack of organizational support.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Janet U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Schneiderman
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D016294:Models, Nursing; D017146:Models, Organizational; D020380:Needs Assessment; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011634:Public Health; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D012573:School Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires