EFFECTS OF THE SCHOOL NURSE'S TYPE OF DRESS ON THIRD, SIXTH, AND NINTH GRADE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF HER HEALTH INSTRUCTION CREDIBILITY (THIRD-GRADE, SIXTH-GRADE, NINTH-GRADE, NURSE APPAREL).
Contributors: Ohio State University.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 219
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Education.
Description: This post-test only control group experimental study investigated the type of dress in which third, sixth, and ninth grade students perceived the school nurse to have the most health instruction credibility. Six hundred eighty-three students from four different school districts representing the state's school classification groups in terms of income, attendance, tax base, rural-urban mix, and proportion receiving ADC in one county of Ohio were randomly assigned one of four levels of the dress variable (traditional nurse's white uniform, lab coat, skirt and blouse, and business suit). The treatment was presented in 8 x 10 black and white pictures with a written and an oral introduction about the school nurse teaching a class on health consumerism.

No interactions between type of dress and grade level were detected. Third grade students scored all school nurses, regardless of dress, higher than did either sixth or ninth grade students.

Attribute variables of gender, socioeconomic status, maternal employment, and school nurse awareness were analyzed to identify any differences in perceptions based on these traits. A t test or ANOVA were used in these analyses. The hypothesis regarding males scoring the school nurse in the traditional uniform higher than females demonstrated significant differences but in the opposite direction; i.e., females scored the nurse higher than males. This difference was true also for each of the other treatment levels. No significant differences were found among the four treatment levels for students of the lower socioeconomic status, represented by those receiving free or reduced lunches, on the competence scale; on the character scale, however, students receiving free and reduced lunches rated the school nurse, regardless of dress, higher than did students paying for their own lunches. The analysis supported the hypothesis that students who were aware of their own school nurse would rate the nurse pictured, regardless of dress, higher than students who did not, but this idea was true only for the character scale. The type of dress of their own school nurse and maternal employment made no difference in students' credibility scores. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-01, Section: A, page: 0099.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1992.

School code: 0168.