This study evaluated generic health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among 10 to 12-year-old Icelandic school age children who were either with or without chronic health condition. The children and their parents answered self-report questionnaires. For the 480 children who participated, girls were found to perceive their HRQOL significantly higher than the boys, children who visited the school nurse over a one-week period and children who indicated they were bullied by other children, perceived their HRQOL to be significantly lower than children who did not visit the school nurse over this time period or children who did not indicate they were bullied by other children in school. From the stepwise regression analysis, perception of health, school connectedness, health promotion, bullying victimization, visits to the school nurse and age, significantly predicted 43.8% of the variance of the girls' perception of their HRQOL. However, perception of health, school connectedness, and chronic health condition/illnesses, bullying victimization and after school activities predicted 48.1% of the boys' perception of their HRQOL. Children with chronic health condition or illnesses, reported their HRQOL to be significantly lower than children without chronic health condition. Assessing HRQOL among 10 to 12-year-old children might be helpful to take preventive action early on in children's life and development.

Aim This paper is a report of an international study of barriers to asthma care from the perspectives of school nurses in Reykjavik, Iceland and St. Paul, Minnesota, in the context of their schools, communities and countries. Background Globally, asthma affects the health and school performance of many adolescents. School nurses play a key role by providing care to adolescents with asthma in school settings. Understanding universal barriers to asthma management in schools is important for developing interventions that are effective in multiple societal contexts. Design Exploratory, descriptive study. Methods Parallel studies were conducted from September 2008 - January 2009, through six focus groups among school nurses (N=32, in Reykjavik n=17 and St. Paul n=15) who were managing asthma in adolescents. Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim in English or Icelandic. The Icelandic transcripts were translated into English. Descriptive content analytic techniques were used to systematically identify and categorize types of barriers to asthma care. Results School nurses in both countries identified common barriers such as time constraints, communication challenges and school staff barriers. The primary difference was that St. Paul school nurses identified more socioeconomic and health access barriers than school nurses in Reykjavik. Conclusion Greater cultural and linguistic diversity and socioeconomic differences in the student population in St. Paul and lack of universal health care coverage in the U.S. contributed to school nurses’ need to focus more on asthma management than school nurses in Reykjavik, who were able to focus more on asthma prevention and education.

Interventions designed to decrease health risk behaviours, treat chronic health conditions/illnesses and offer best practice first response to women who are victims of intimate partner violence can be offered to reduce the short- and long-term effects of violence on their physical and psychological health. Public health policy needs to focus specifically on intimate partner violence against women and the role that public health nurses can have in early identification and offering appropriate interventions within primary healthcare settings.

Aim To identify and compare how school nurses in Reykjavik, Iceland and St. Paul, Minnesota coordinated care for youth with asthma (ages 10–18) and to develop an asthma school nurse care coordination model. Background Little is known about how school nurses coordinate care for youth with asthma in different countries. Design A qualitative descriptive study design using focus group data. Methods Six focus groups with 32 school nurses were conducted in Reykjavik (n=17) and St. Paul (n=15) using the same protocol between September 2008 – January 2009. Descriptive content analytic and constant comparison strategies were used to categorize and compare how school nurses coordinated care, which resulted in the development of an International School Nurse Asthma Care Coordination Model. Findings Participants in both countries spontaneously described a similar asthma care coordination process that involved information gathering, assessing risk for asthma episodes, prioritizing health care needs and anticipating and planning for student needs at the individual and school levels. This process informed how they individualized symptom management, case management and/or asthma education. School nurses played a pivotal part in collaborating with families, school and health care professionals to ensure quality care for youth with asthma. Conclusions Results indicate a high level of complexity in school nurses’ approaches to asthma care coordination that were responsive to the diverse and changing needs of students in school settings. The conceptual model derived provides a framework for investigators to use in examining the asthma care coordination process of school nurses in other geographic locations.

Interventions designed to decrease depression and prevent asthma exacerbations may improve QOL for adolescents with asthma.

Aim Little attention has been paid to breastfeeding late preterm (LPT) infants. This study compared breastfeeding, worries, depression and stress in mothers of LPT and term‐born infants throughout the first year. We also described factors associated with shorter breastfeeding duration of LPT infants. Methods This longitudinal cohort study of the mothers of singleton infants—129 born LPT and 277 born at term—was conducted at Landspitali—The National University Hospital of Iceland, which has the country's only neonatal intensive care unit. The mothers answered questionnaires when their infants were 1, 4, 8 and 12 months of age. Results Mothers breastfed LPT infants for a significantly shorter time than term infants: a median of 7 months (95% confidence interval 5.53‐8.48) vs 9 months (95% confidence interval 8.39‐9.61) (P < .05). Starting solids at up to 4 months was the strongest risk factor for LPT breastfeeding cessation during the first year, after adjusting for confounders (P < .001). Their mothers reported more worries about their infants’ health and behaviour during the first year and were more likely to experience depression at 4 months. Conclusion Mothers with LPT infants are vulnerable and need greater practical breastfeeding and emotional support in hospital and at home.

Title. Identifying abuse among women: use of clinical guidelines by nurses and midwives. Aim. This aim of this study to identify the incidence of violence against women seeking healthcare services and evaluate the use of clinical guidelines to identify interpersonal violence. Results. Twenty women (19AE6%) who visited the Emergency Department and 21 women (19AE8%) who came to the High Risk Prenatal Care Clinic had been sexually abused at some point in their lives by close family members. Within the preceding 12 months, 18 women at the Emergency Department (19AE1%) and eight at the High Risk Prenatal Care Clinic (7AE5%) reported physical abuse, and 22 women (22AE2%) at the Emergency Department and 12 (11AE5%) at the High Risk Prenatal Care Clinic reported emotional abuse. A majority of the nurses and midwives indicated that the guidelines were efficient for assessing/screening for gender violence in emergency and high risk clinical settings. Conclusion. Screening for abuse of women at emergency and high risk clinics is crucial, not only to offer the women the immediate interventions they might need, but also to ensure the future provision of appropriate healthcare services.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate mothers' and fathers' perception of their child's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among 10- to 12-year-old Icelandic children with or without chronic health condition or illness. A total of 912 Icelandic parents (510 mothers and 402 fathers) and 480 children (209 boys and 271 girls) participated in the study. The Icelandic fathers of children who visited the school nurse over a period of 1 week perceived HRQOL of their children to be significantly lower than the mothers. A gender difference was found between the parents; mothers perceived their children to have significantly higher school functioning than fathers. Both mothers and fathers of children with chronic health condition/illness perceived their children to have significantly lower HRQOL than did the parents of children without a chronic health condition. The findings underline the importance for school nurses to develop and test interventions for school-age children with chronic health conditions or illnesses.