The role of the school nurse in protecting children and young people from maltreatment: An integrative review of the literature

Abstract

Objectives: This review aims to describe the role of the school nurse in protecting children and young people from maltreatment by examining the international literature. Child maltreatment is a prevalent issue in global society today and includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse, neglect and exploitation. School nurses are ideally placed to identify and work with children and young people who are at risk of maltreatment through their regular contact with the school community. Design: Integrative literature review incorporating thematic analysis.

Poor communication hinders the role of the school nurse as a key professional in protecting children and young people from maltreatment

“…The purpose of this review3 was to review the international literature to examine four questions: what activities do school nurses undertake to protect children and young people from maltreatment? What barriers exist to school nurses protecting children and young people from maltreatment?…”

“…School nurses have access to the vast majority of children and young people and are well placed to identify and prevent child maltreatment. Harding and colleagues’3 review examines the role of the school nurse, with an international comparison, in protecting children and young people from maltreatment.…”

Recognition of risk and prevention in safeguarding of children and young people: a mapping review and component analysis of interventions aimed at health and social care professionals

“…Common methodological aspects that were not present in the systematic reviews were 'a prori design' not provided [3][4][5]12 , duplicate study selection and data extaction not completed 5,10,11 , grey literature not included 3,4,7,8 and list of excluded studies not provided 5, 7-9 funding information or conflict of interest not provided 5 . Two of the reviews were literature reviews 13, 14 and one was an integrative review 15 for which many of the questions in the checklist were not applicable. The literature reviews both had good searches and included grey literature.…”

“…A qualitative study 89 to better understand the needs and experiences of young people (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) and their families that have been involved in the care systems and their reflections and experiences of the services. The young people's involvement with social services occurred for a number of reasons but the researchers found similar issues from their involvement with services; the young people didn't feel that they were listened to, disruption arising from emotional or psychological issues and no early identification of their problems or support.…”

“…• The review (particularly the review of reviews) identified tensions between safeguarding being everyone's business and identified requirements for training which need to be proportionate to need and other competing roles and responsibilities 15,174 .…”