Scand J Caring Sci;2003; 17; 392-398 School nurses' view of schoolchildren's health and their attitudes to document it in the school health record -a pilot study This study highlights school nurses' view of schoolchildren's health and their attitude to document it in the school health records. A strategic sample of 12 school nurses was interviewed. The interviews were semistructured and analysed with qualitative content analysis. The findings showed that the school nurses' viewed schoolchildren as physical healthy although they called attention to growing problems related to a changed lifestyle. Psychosocial ill-health was however increasing and the most common reason for visiting the school nurse was psychosomatic expressions. According to the nurses' descriptions, health was related to the individual, the school and the family situation. The family situation was mentioned as one of the most important factors of schoolchildren's health. The nurses described no problem to document schoolchildren's physical health. Ethical consideration, tradition, lack of time and the structure of the record were however factors that were said to hinder the documentation of the psychosocial health. In order to promote, protect and recover schoolchildren's health, more research is needed about how beliefs, experience, ethical consideration and resources influence the school nurse's daily work with schoolchildren's health.

School nurses work closely with the children and meet them continuously during the school age period. They have a genuine knowledge of schoolchildren's health, which should be used even more, both in research and practice. The results may be applicable in other countries with similarly organized school health systems.

School nurses are one of the first health-care professionals to meet unaccompanied refugee children and adolescents and therefore have an important impact on health outcomes. The aim of this study was to describe school nurses' experiences working with unaccompanied refugee children and adolescents. Semistructured interviews were conducted with school nurses (n ¼ 14) who worked with unaccompanied refugee children and adolescents. The interviews were analyzed via qualitative content analysis. The results fell into three themes: (a) knowledge of trauma-informed care, (b) knowledge of intercultural nursing, and (c) importance of self-awareness. School nurses require the development of tailor-made skills that focus on crisis, trauma, and cultural awareness to meet the complex needs associated with working with unaccompanied refugee children and adolescents.

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the implementation of a universal school-based cognitive behavioral program whose target is to prevent depressive symptoms in adolescents. The study had a quasi-experimental design with pretest, posttest, and a 1-year follow-up and provides an illustrative calculation for the implementation costs of the intervention. Sixty-two students (aged 14) and seven tutors participated. A majority of the students and all of the tutors were satisfied with the intervention. The students, both females and males, rated their depressed symptoms as significantly lower after the course; and for the females, this was maintained 1-year postintervention. The implementation costs for the initial 2 years were about US$300 per student. Positive effects of a universal school-based cognitive behavioral intervention aiming at preventing depressive symptoms in adolescents were found, especially among females.