Performing school nursing: Narratives of providing support to children and young people

Abstract

Child and adolescent mental health is an important public health issue within the U.K. Providing support to young people to help them cope with everyday life is a key aspect of the school nurse's role. Yet there is a paucity of published research within the U.K. and internationally about how this support is provided. Using a narrative inquiry approach this study set out to address the following research question, 'How do school nurses provide support to young people?' Stories were gathered from 11 school nurses identified through purposive sampling to explore their experiences of providing support to young people. Poetic representations were used to tell the stories of individual school nurses; an approach seen to be innovative within school nursing research. Spatiality theory was used as a framework to explore different spaces used when providing support to young people. This study extends the current school nursing literature about what it means to provide support. The importance of regular support and building trusting relationships is identified Yet challenges exist in terms of the amount of emotional investment required by the nurses, as well as a lack of workforce capacity and organisational demands.