ROLE OF THE NURSE IN THE SCHOOL SETTING: AN HISTORICAL VIEW AS REFLECTED IN THE LITERATURE FROM 1902 THROUGH 1982.
Contributors: Ohio State University.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 307
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Education.
Description: The purpose of the study was to investigate, from an historical perspective, the role of the nurse in the school setting as reflected in the literature from 1902 through 1982. The study aimed to (1) trace the role of the nurse in the school setting; (2) to document and describe movements and benchmark events in both school health education and nursing which were influential in shaping the role of the nurse in the school; and (3) to draw inferences about the future of school nursing.

Five steps comprised the design of the study: (1) the problem to be examined was selected; (2) research questions were formulated; (3) data were gathered from school nursing literature in the 1902-1982 time span; (4) the data sources were examined using eight criteria to ascertain authenticity and accuracy; and (5) findings were interpreted and recorded using a chronological-topical approach. The primary thrust of the study was to seek answers to the research questions. Hypotheses to confirm or disconfirm causality were not proposed.

Data, derived from articles in professional education, health education, nursing, and public health journals; school nursing texts; nursing history texts; public health nursing texts and manuals; curriculum guides; school nursing monographs; and published addresses, speeches, memoirs, and committee reports, were organized around four issues associated with the role of the nurse in the school: professional preparation, service functions and responsibilities, health instruction, and interpersonal relationships. Each issue was examined in the context of four time periods: 1902-1920, 1921-1940, 1941-1960, 1961-1982.

Study findings tended to support six conclusions: (1) there has been no common role expectation of the nurse in the school setting; (2) the nurse in the school has been perceived as a health educator, but in actuality, role expectations are more illness-oriented; (3) historically, a variety of social, political, and economic events have brought changes in the roles and responsibilities of the school nurse; (4) the activities of professional organizations have contributed greatly to the advancement of school nursing; (5) from past to present, the nurse has played a vital role in the school setting; (6) disparity between the real and the ideal has existed for years.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: B, page: 1933.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1986.

School code: 0168.