Understanding and Treatment of Chronic Abdominal Pain Among School Nurses: A National Survey

Abstract

School nurses often are the first (and most sustained) point of contact for children with medical issues and, as such, they are well poised to provide early intervention for children with chronic abdominal pain. Therefore, the current study sought to assess school nurses’ perspectives and practices related to chronic abdominal pain. A study invitation and link to a web-based questionnaire were sent to members of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) with published e-mail addresses. A total of 1,550 school nurses (∼11% response rate) participated in the study. Approximately 1/3 of the sample reported >90 annual student visits for abdominal pain. Fifty-seven percent perceived the most common cause for childhood chronic abdominal pain as related to psychosocial issues. Although psychosocial issues were the most commonly perceived cause of pain, 66% of nurses reported collaborating with mental health professionals <10% of the time. Half of the nurses sampled were not confident in their understanding of chronic abdominal pain in children, and 27% perceived nursing education available on the topic to be nonexistent or poor. School nurses frequently see children with abdominal pain, primarily believe psychosocial/behavioral issues to account for it (although rarely collaborate with mental health professionals), and know little about biological contributors to and classification of the condition. These findings indicate a need for an evidence-based curriculum for school nurse training.