Adopting Innovative Approaches to Care: Facilitators & Barriers of School Nursing Practice in an Urban School District
Genre
Thesis/DissertationDate
2019Author
Curry, TamikaAdvisor
Jordan, Will J.Committee member
Cucchiara, Maia BloomfieldHindman, Annemarie H.
Ruggieri, Dominique G.
Department
Urban EducationSubject
NursingEducation
Public Health
Barriers
Facilitators
Framework
School Nurse
School Nursing Practice
Urban Schools
Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/2740Metadata
Show full item recordDOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/2722Abstract
As new approaches to practice become available for school nurses, urban school districts must address the need to provide facilitators for the dissemination and adoption of new evidenced based practice models. With instructional capacity, curriculum challenges, and school climate at the center of the decision making of educational leaders, the needs of school health become neglected. As new innovations become available, school nurses working in urban school districts often rely on individual continuing education to access new ideas due to barriers that exist in urban schools with limited funding and resources. This dissertation research had two primary aims: (1) expand current research regarding specific barriers and facilitators to practice, and (2) to better understand the school nurses’ adoption of the Framework for the 21st Century School Practicing Nurse in an urban school district. This framework addresses the specific needs of the school nurse working in an evolving educational health setting. Using a descriptive and inferential quantitative design with a convenience sample of school nurses in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), participants completed an online survey designed to examine awareness, agreement, and alignment with the framework, as well as barriers and facilitators of adoption. The results revealed differences in level of awareness of the framework across various demographic groups within the SDP. After presenting the framework to participants, school nurses agreed with the importance of fully aligning practice. Further, there were variations in level of importance regarding specific practice components of the framework. Participants identified facilitators and barriers that impacted their ability to fully align school nursing practice with the framework.ADA compliance
For Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.eduCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The effects of school uniforms on school climate in elementary schoolThis research sought to explore the link between mandatory school uniforms and a positive school climate. Beginning in the late 1980's public schools implemented mandatory school uniforms policies in urban school districts. The trend gained momentum when President Clinton included school uniforms in his 1996 State of the Union Address. Directly following the speech was a publication by the United States Department of Education on school uniforms that was distributed to all school districts in the country. Often the primary reason for implementing school uniforms was gang violence. Other reason included increased school safety and decreases in violence. Further, proponents believed uniforms would increase academic achievement and improve school climate. Research on the effects of school uniforms is limited and conflicting. Most studies available to date were conducted in urban settings. However, school uniforms have infiltrated rural and suburban schools districts as well. Two school districts in suburban Eastern Pennsylvania participated in this study. One school district had a mandatory school uniform policy. The other did not. Using a school climate survey and school uniform questionnaire, students in grades 4-6 and elementary school teachers rated the school climate in their respective schools. School climate was rated on seven subscales on the student school climate survey and 10 subscales on the faculty school climate survey. A t-test was performed on the data set to determine the difference between sample means and a factor analysis was conducted on the student school climate survey. Further, three themes emerged from the short answer questions on the student uniform questionnaire. The results of the research found that there was not a statistically significant relationship between a mandatory school uniform policy and elementary school students' perceptions of school climate. Of the seven subscales, students who wore school uniforms rated their peer relationships higher than students without school uniforms. Additionally, they rated the required rigor higher. Students that did not wear school uniforms rated the teacher-student relationship higher. When responding to the open ended questions, three themes emerged. They were expression, atmosphere and family. In essence, students were not in favor of wearing uniforms and believed uniforms suppressed their freedom of expression. Teachers responded similarly. The results showed no statistically significant relationship between a mandatory school uniform policy and teacher perceptions of school climate. Only two subscales showed any significant difference between the two groups of teachers. They were teacher-administrator relationship and student achievement. In both respects, teachers in the district without uniforms responded more positively. The results of this study should be used when reviewing current policy or considering new policy on school uniforms.
-
White Representation in Neighborhood Schools: School Funding, Nonprofit Investment, and Academic OutcomesMy dissertation examines the enrollment patterns of White children in traditional U.S. public schools in 2010. I link schools to their attendance boundaries to compare the percentage of White children living in a catchment area to the percentage of White children who attend the local neighborhood school. I find that just under a third of schools are roughly representative of their catchment area (29%), the plurality are underrepresented White (40%), and the remaining 31% are overrepresented White. Descriptive analyses determine that White underrepresentation is more common in urban schools. White underrepresented schools tend to be in poorer neighborhoods and have a higher-than-average share of students in poverty and students with limited English proficiency. I investigate whether there is a connection between White representation and school quality outcomes. I focus on four facets of school quality that I hypothesize might be responsive to White representation: 1) school funding metrics, 2) school-supporting nonprofit presence, 3) standardized test scores, and 4) Gifted and Talented programming. Overall, the findings here offer mixed support for the theory of “opportunity hoarding,” in which White underrepresented schools receive fewer resources. Taken together, descriptive analyses find that White underrepresentation is largely associated with negative outcomes. White underrepresented schools have less public and charitable funding than their peers. White underrepresented schools are lower performing academically than White overrepresented schools, although they are not clearly academically different from representative White schools. White underrepresented schools are not necessarily less likely to have a GAT program, but when they do have a GAT program, it disproportionately targets White students. Furthermore, multivariate analyses reveal that the bivariate relationships between White representation and school outcomes are not entirely explained by the percentage of White students in a school, nor other covariates. This suggests that there is a meaningful distinction between White representation and the percentage of White students in a school. In other words, White representation tells us something about a school, net of the presence of White students. However, this was not the case for every multivariate model in the study. I find a significant negative association between White representation and school funding. White underrepresented schools have significantly lower mean teacher salaries and per-pupil salary expenditures, net of the percentage of White students within the school. This could be evidence that disproportionately low White enrollment leads to diminished school resources or less experienced teachers. Alternately, it could be that White families are more adept than non-White families at avoiding under-resourced schools. I find no evidence of a connection between White representation and whether a school has a school-supporting nonprofit. Instead, the economic composition of the school appears to be a more important driver of school nonprofit presence and nonprofit revenue. I also find no connection between White representation and test scores. However, White representation appears to influence the racial composition of GAT programs. Schools that are less White than their neighborhoods tend to have GAT programs that are significantly Whiter than the schools.
-
A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS AND PARENTS IN ONE RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICT: WHY THEY GO, THE NATURE OF THEIR EXPERIENCES, AND WHY SOME CHOOSE TO LEAVETwo coinciding trends in education have given rise to this study: the political cycle of school reform and the heterogeneous nature of the charter school landscape. Since Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter law in 1991, the dramatic increase in the number of charter schools has provided opportunities for researchers to try to categorize the success of charter schools. Although the number of charter schools have almost doubled from 3,689 to 6,004 from 2005-2006 to 2012-2013, an average of approximately 500 charters have opened and more than 160 charter schools have closed per year during these eight years of the available data. However, students who attend charter schools do not have a monolithic educational experience. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of students and parents in relation to enrolling in a specific brick and mortar and several cyber charter schools, and if applicable, leaving said schools. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of students and parents who reside in a rural public school district and chose to attend a cyber charter or brick and mortar charter school. Survey responses and information gathered from interviews of students and their parents/guardians were analyzed to illuminate the research questions. While the results will not be generalizable, this study has led to an understanding of what led these students to enroll in charter schools and if applicable, why they chose to leave. More specifically, three themes emerged from the data: (1) Family members, primarily mothers, significantly impacted students’ decisions to employ choice to enroll in charters; (2) The lack of extra-curricular activities in charters had a substantially negative impact on students’ experiences and (3) Educational quality was the foremost characteristic named in the determination to transfer out of a charter school. While there has been research on charter schools separate from studies on perceptions of school age children with respect to education programming, this examination indicates the need to unite charter research and student voice aspects within the realm of educational research.
