Education to Improve the Quality of Mental Health Care Provided by Middle School Nurses: A Review of the Literature
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The purpose of this review was to examine the use of continuing education and its associated outcomes in the quality of mental health care provided by middle school nurses.
Relevance/Significance:
Mental health problems affect up to 20% of children and adolescents in the United States each year. Mental health disorders in early adolescents can decrease quality of life and academic achievement. School nurses spend approximately 1/3 of their time dealing with mental health needs, but report needing more education about mental health. It is unclear if continuing education as a sole intervention is effective in improving the quality of mental health care provided by middle school nurses.
Strategy and Implementation:
A literature review was conducted to find relevant research. Inclusion criteria included: research-based and evaluation articles with education as the sole intervention, middle school nurses as a target population, articles that were written in English, dated 1994 or later, and were set in the United States school system. Databases searched included PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and ERIC, using indexing terms such as “school nursing”, “mental health”, and “education”. Google searching and snowball sampling were also employed. A total of 762 articles were screened, and six articles were retained for full text examination. Three of these articles were determined to be eligible for inclusion.
Evaluation:
Educational interventions varied from book clubs to formal programs. Results indicate that continuing education may increase school nurse confidence in providing mental health care. No evidence was found to support the use of mental health focused continuing education for middle school nurses to improve student outcomes. Limitations include few articles and a limited number of outcome measures.
Implications for Practice:
There is a dearth of information available on this topic. The type, duration, dosage, and outcomes of educational offerings need to be evaluated rigorously before they are relied upon to independently improve quality. Current leaders should consider additional interventions.