title: Information and communication technology: students' health education in 1st- to 6th-grade South Korea elementary schools.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purposes of this study were to (1) identify school nurses' awareness of information and communication technology (ICT) use in students' health education and (2) explore the barriers or reasons for the adoption of ICT in school nursing practice, while (3) presenting strategies to speed ICT diffusion and dissemination into practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  For data collection, 209 primary school nurses in K province of Korea were selected and e-mailed the questionnaires. Collected data were analyzed as frequency, percentages, and chi-square tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The major reasons to adopt ICT were increasing school nurses' confidence in providing health education and improving teaching methods using diverse multimedia. The major barriers to utilization of ICT were lack of time for preparation of educational materials, lack of software availability, and lack of computer skills of school nurses and students. Several strategies were suggested to speed the diffusion of ICT into students' health education, such as integrating a health education course into regular curriculum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is important to identify barriers and reasons for adoption of ICT in school nursing. In addition, strategies should be emphasized that result in more rapid diffusion of these technologies in school nursing practice.
authors.affiliation: Kyungpook National University College of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Daegu, South Korea. jewelee@knu.ac.kr
authors.forename: Eunjoo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hyejin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.forename: Eunhoe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D002648:Child; D003197:Computer Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012573:School Nursing / Q000193:education*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: South Korea; elementary school; information and communication technology; students' health education