Supporting Students with Chronic Health Conditions: An Evaluation of School Nurses’ Collaborative Practices with School Psychologists

Many students in primary and secondary schools are impacted by a chronic health condition. Researchers have postulated that interprofessional collaboration between medical and mental health providers can be beneficial in improving the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes of students with chronic health conditions (Drotar, Palermo, & Barry, 2003; Shapiro & Manz, 2003). An emerging area of focus is on the school-based collaboration between school nurses and school psychologists regarding supporting students with chronic health conditions. This study investigated school nurses’ perceptions of the benefit of collaborating with school psychologists, school nurses’ awareness of the roles of school psychologists, the frequency of collaborative practices, the relationship between the awareness of roles and frequency of collaborative practices, and the barriers and facilitators to the collaborative process. A total of 1,054 school nurses were recruited from National Board for Certification of School Nurses to participate in the study, and 240 surveys were completed (23% response rate). Findings indicate that school nurses perceive the collaborative practice as being beneficial for supporting students with chronic health conditions. Additionally, school nurses were able to accurately identify many roles of school psychologists. Despite school nurses perceiving collaboration with school psychologists as beneficial, and being aware of the roles of school psychologists, the frequency of collaboration between school nurses and school psychologists was low. Further analysis found a significant and positive relationship between awareness of the roles and collaborative practices. Benefits of the collaborative process included cross-disciplinary problem solving and the opportunity to share resources