School Nursing in the News

Abstract

This study investigated the image of school nursing in the American press during 1978 and 1980. Content analysis of newspaper articles yielded specific measurements of the extent to which school nursing is visible via the press, the content of messages disseminated to the public about school nursing issues and two year changes in newspaper treatment of this topic. The mean number of articles published per state was 1.43 in 1978 and 6.30 in 1980. The typical school nurse article appeared in a daily newspaper circulated to less than 10,000 readers. Articles published in 1978 were significantly larger than those published in 1980 and were more likely to focus primarily on the school nursing program rather than on teachers, school boards, funding concerns or other issues. The majority of the articles (77%) devoted some space to describing the services provided by school nurses. Nearly 30% of the articles reported problems with funding for school nursing programs and 21% reported threatened or actual loss of funding for services. Although reports of protests against budget cuts by school nurses, teachers, administrators and parents were found, parents were depicted as the only interest group to succeed in efforts to avert the loss of services. Criticism of school nursing services was found in only 2% of the articles. More than 80% of the articles praised school nursing as a vital force for improving the health of American school children. It was concluded that school nursing has not yet attained a position on the public agenda as an important community issue despite the fact that the quality and level of school health services are increasingly threatened in the current budget-cutting climate.