The role of the school nurse in supporting school-age children with mental health difficulties: an integrative review

Abstract

In the context of rising mental disorder prevalence among school-age children and increasing pressures on services to deliver effective and efficient interventions, school nurses have been identified as a key workforce to clinically support school-age children with emerging mental health difficulties and existing mental health diagnoses. This review aims to identify and critically analyse existing academic literature, in order to ascertain the current role of the school nurse in supporting school-age children with emerging mental health difficulties and existing mental health disorders. In doing so, this integrative review makes recommendations for future research and discusses implications for nursing practice. An integrative review methodology was used in order to conduct a systematic review of the literature, in conjunction with the PRISMA (2009) guidelines. CASP tools were used to critically appraise the selected papers, and the findings were tabulated in order to identify emerging themes. 289 papers were found through database searches, and six papers were identified as relevant to this literature review. Although these papers were preliminary in nature, clear themes were identified across the selected papers. School nurses were found to be uniquely placed to support school-age children with emerging mental health difficulties and existing mental health diagnoses. However, barriers to effective interventions included school nurses' lack of knowledge and lack of resources within school nurse teams. The lack of training and knowledge for school nurses within this clinical subject area is an urgent cause for concern, and future research and practice development is strongly recommended.