The Journal of school nursing : the official publication of the National Association of School Nurses
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Dysmenorrhea is a problem that girls and women face and often manage themselves with or without support from health professionals. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among adolescents with dysmenorrhea (N = 150) in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. ⋯ Findings revealed the adolescents had a knowledge deficit regarding menstruation and dysmenorrhea, 58% of respondents reported pain between face 4 and face 10 on the Faces Pain Scale and the majority used inappropriate methods to manage primary dysmenorrhea. School nurses are able to assist adolescents and their mothers in proper management of primary dysmenorrhea.
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High school athletes represent the largest group of individuals affected by sudden cardiac death, with an estimated incidence of once or twice per week. Structural cardiovascular abnormalities are the most frequent cause of sudden cardiac death. ⋯ Poorly defined legislation and the absence of a national standard for sports physicals have contributed to inadequate health screenings of athletes. This article will describe the incidence and causes of sudden cardiovascular death in young athletes as well as guidelines intended to prevent this unfortunate problem.
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Traditional orientation programs for school nurses may not meet the needs of nurses new to the specialty. In this era where technology is a major aspect of our daily lives, the Internet offers new school nurses an avenue where information can be accessed at anytime and from anyplace. ⋯ Modules in the program outline the history of school nursing, advice from an experienced school nurse, school enrollment requirements, scope of school nursing practice, standards of professional performance, and legal issues in school nursing and are available through a single Web portal. Information presented could be customized to provide specific content unique to practice in any state or area.
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Members of the Armed Services and Reserve Unit Members, both male and female, are being deployed to distant lands for long periods of time, disrupting family life and causing stressful times for the adults and children in the family. Traditionally, the mother of the military family was left to be the caregiver after the deployment of the husband/father. ⋯ This article provides information about the challenges families face and the psychosocial developmental needs of children and families during the five stages of military deployment: predeployment, deployment, sustainment, redeployment, and postdeployment. School nurses can offer children and families support and link them with available resources and networks that will assist them with their needs.
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One's practice as a school nurse affords numerous privileges. One that stands out in my mind is the privilege of bearing witness to the lives of countless girls as they navigated their own aspirations and the expectations of the culture. The stories they iterated to me in my school nurse office form the basis for this discussion regarding the relationship between anger and mental health. ⋯ This feminist qualitative research project explored girls' lived experiences of anger. The findings suggest that experiences of disrespect, dismissal, denied agency, and a denial of the right to verbalize anger eventually led to self-silencing and an eventual disconnect from this important emotion. The girls described strategies associated with the societal response to their anger that are likened here to the ultra-adaptive strategies that chameleons show to survive.