School Nurses ’ Role in Identifying and Referring Children at Risk of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Young people are likely to experience noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), as the use of personal listening devices and other damaging factors (e.g., video games) increases. Little research has examined the role of school health personnel in the prevention and early identification of hearing impairment. A 32-item, valid and reliable survey was developed regarding elementary and middle school nurses ’ practices concerning hearing loss screening and prevention. The survey instrument was based on the Stages of Change theory and the Health Belief Model. A random sample of 800 nurses was obtained from The National Association of School Nurses. A two-wave mailing was used to achieve a 58 % response rate. Forty eight percent indicated there were not many educational programs that addressed NIHL in students. Performing hearing screenings routinely can help identify those students at risk. School nurses need to become advocates for policies and programs that mandate hearing screenings and educational programs to help reduce hearing loss. Keywords hearing loss, school nurses, health belief model, stages of change It is estimated that 1.5 million young people ages 0 to 21 have some type of hearing problem. Moreover, for 19.5% of children and adolescents aged 6–19 years that have per-manent and irreversible damage to their hearing, it is related to excessive exposure to noise (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 2008; Niskar et al., 2001; Shargorodsky, Curhan, Curhang, &amp