Supporting grieving students is part of a school nurse’s role which can provide meaning or special purpose in their career. This was verified by an online survey completed by 648 school nurse members of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). A majority of respondents felt personal distress as a result of their work with grieving students which was predicted by a lack of access to work/community resources available and a lower level of educational background of the school nurse. Training to support grieving students and a higher level of educational background of the school nurse, however, appeared to predict a greater level of personal meaning found in school nurses’ support of grieving students. Level of support by school leadership provided to school nurses in their support of grieving students was also found to be related to both the personal distress experienced and the personal meaning derived by school nurses.
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