On Time: A Qualitative Study of Swedish Students', Parents' and Teachers' Views on School Attendance, with a Focus on Tardiness.
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SUBMITTER: Warne M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7068317 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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On Time: A Qualitative Study of Swedish Students', Parents' and Teachers' Views on School Attendance, with a Focus on Tardiness.
Warne Maria M Svensson Åsa Å Tirén Lina L Wall Erika E
International journal of environmental research and public health 20200223 4
Tardiness is a common problem in many schools. It can be understood as an individual risk for future problematic behavior leading to absenteeism, school dropout, exclusion and later health problems. Tardiness can also be examined in relation to a broader social-ecological perspective on health. The aim of this study was to analyze students', school staff's and parents' views on students' tardiness in two Swedish schools. A focus group interview design was used with 21 school personnel, 21 studen ...[more]
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Project description:Evidence-based methods to identify behavioural problems among children are not regularly used within the Swedish Child healthcare. A new procedure was therefore introduced to assess children through parent- and preschool teacher reports using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). This study aims to explore nurses', preschool teachers' and parents' perspectives of this new information sharing model. Using the grounded theory methodology, semi-structured interviews with nurses (n = 10) at child health clinics, preschool teachers (n = 13) and parents (n = 11) of 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children were collected and analysed between March 2014 and June 2014. The analysis was conducted using constant comparative method. The participants were sampled purposively within a larger trial in Sweden. Results indicate that all stakeholders shared a desire to have a complete picture of the child's health. The perceptions that explain why the stakeholders were in favour of the new procedure-the 'causal conditions' in a grounded theory model-included: (1) Nurses thought that visits after 18-months were unsatisfactory, (2) Preschool teachers wanted to identify children with difficulties and (3) Parents viewed preschool teachers as being qualified to assess children. However, all stakeholders had doubts as to whether there was a reliable way to assess children's behaviour. Although nurses found the SDQ to be useful for their clinical evaluation, they noticed that not all parents chose to participate. Both teachers and parents acknowledged benefits of information sharing. However, the former had concerns about parental reactions to their assessments and the latter about how personal information was handled. The theoretical model developed describes that the causal conditions and current context of child healthcare in many respects endorse the introduction of information sharing. However, successful implementation requires considerable work to address barriers: the tension between normative thinking versus helping children with developmental problems for preschool teachers and dealing with privacy issues and inequity in participation for parents.
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