Elementary school parents'/guardians' perceptions of school health service personnel and the services they provide.
BACKGROUND
The school nurse, the school social worker, and the school counselor play an important role in promoting the health of children. Health services in the school setting provide opportunities to appraise, protect, and promote student health. The purpose of this study was to identify parents' or caregivers' perceptions and beliefs regarding the importance of schools providing various health services to their elementary school-aged children. In addition, the study examined the levels of parental support for, perceptions of, and contact with school health service personnel.


METHODS
In 2005, a nationally representative random sample of 369 (51% return rate) parents of elementary school-aged children completed the questionnaire developed for this study.


RESULTS
A majority of parents/caregivers reported that their child's school had a school nurse (78.8%) and counselor (60.5%), but only 22.6% reported their school had a social worker. A majority of parents/caregivers perceived full-time school nurses (86.3%), school counselors (78.6%), and school social workers (56.3%) as important or extremely important and that schools should be held responsible for having each in their child's elementary school. A majority of parents/caregivers were willing to pay an increase in yearly tax dollars to have full-time school health personnel.


CONCLUSIONS
This study established a level of parental support for, perceptions of, and contact with school health service personnel. Parents were most supportive of school nurses and should be perceived as allies in ensuring job security.
Kirchofer
Gregg
G
Department of Health Science, SUNY Brockport, 350 New Campus Dr., Brockport, New York, NY 14420, USA. gkirchof@brockport.edu
Telljohann
Susan K
SK
Price
James H
JH
Dake
Joseph A
JA
Ritchie
Martin
M
D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D003376:Counseling; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006282:Health Personnel; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007872:Legal Guardians; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D010465:Perception; D012572:School Health Services; D012573:School Nursing; D012574:Schools; D012947:Social Work; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires