The aspects school health nurses find important for successful health promotion

Scand J Caring Sci; 2010; 24; 156–163
The aspects school health nurses find important for successful health promotion
Background:  The work of school health nurses has changed over time; today they focus on health promotion, i.e. encouraging and protecting pupils' health.
Aim:  The aim of this study was to explore school health nurses' conditions for health promotion work with pupils aged 13–15 years.
Methods:  Eight school health nurses from eight different municipalities in Sweden were interviewed. Since the focus was on describing school health nurses' own experiences of their conditions for health promotion work, the research method used was based on Graneheim and Lundman's qualitative content analysis.
Results:  The results showed that conditions for school health nurses' work with health promotion varied between the different municipalities. This had an influence on what they did and the extent to which they worked in this way. The school health nurses described three important aspects that were essential in order to enable successful health promotion work in schools: organisation, support and knowledge. Organisation : It was important to understand the role of school health nurses and the conditions for health promotion work. Without this, they could only work on an individual level. Support : A network of other professions, working in close collaboration for the health of the pupils, created an understanding of ill health and what could be done to promote health. Knowledge : Most school health nurses recognized a lack of general theories and methods, leading to different empirical working methods in the municipalities.
Conclusion:  In an organisation where the need for health promotion work was understood, and school health nurses had support and knowledge, health promotion could be performed not only on an individual- but also on a general level.