Exposure to toxic chemicals or environmental pollutants may harm the health of the nation's 74 million children and contribute to increases in asthma and developmental impairments. In 2007, 66 percent of children lived in counties exceeding allowable levels for at least one of the six principal air pollutants that cause or aggravate asthma,…

Responses to AIDS have often neglected children. Drawing on a qualitative study of young children aged 7-9 years, this paper draws attention to their understandings of HIV and AIDS. It is argued that young children are able to give meaning to the disease in ways that link to their social contexts, where gender inequalities and sexual violence are…

The purpose of this retrospective quantitative study was to examine the relationships among acanthosis nigricans (AN), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), school grade, and gender in children attending elementary school located in South West Texas. Data were collected by attending school district nurses. Researchers reviewed 7,026…

Students with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have a degenerative disease that requires ongoing changes in assistive technology (AT). The AT team needs to be knowledgeable about the disease and its progression in order to meet these students' changing needs in a timely manner. The unique needs of students with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in…

Asthma is the leading cause of missed school days despite advancements in asthma treatment. This may be, in part, due to a lack of understanding about asthma. "Okay With Asthma"[TM], an online story with psychosocial management strategies for school-age children, was pilot tested to measure its effect on asthma knowledge and attitude. The online…

Outbreaks of norovirus have been on the increase. The virus often spreads quickly through schools and similar institutions. The school nurse may be able to minimize the impact of a school norovirus outbreak by providing accurate information about the disease, the scope of the local situation, and instruction on infection control measures. This…

Background: Media use is associated with an increased risk of chronic disease and reduced quality of life among children. This study examined the relationship between media use during discretionary hours after school and psychological and physical assets among preadolescent girls. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from a…

Using a long panel dataset of Chinese farm households covering the period of 1987-2002, this paper studies how major health shocks happening to household adults affect children's school attainments. We find that primary school-age children are the most vulnerable to health shocks, with their chances to enter middle school dropping by 9.9…

At the beginning of each school year, the school-nurse coordinator for the 3,000-student Ashland, Oregon, district plans a "parent's night" around the topic of vaccinations for the safety and health of children. That is only the beginning of the school-nurse coordinator's contact with parents who are skeptical about the necessity of…

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Strategies for Addressing Asthma Within a Coordinated School Health Program" recommends a consulting physician for schools to help manage asthma. The literature examines the effects when a school nurse is present, but the addition of a consulting physician is not well understood. The…

The disappearance of traditional sex education during rites of passage in African societies has left many youth uncertain of where to look for information. Against this backcloth, the objectives of this study were to identify knowledge gaps amongst adolescents in Kenya regarding sexuality, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. A thematic analysis was…

America has a serious weight problem. Two-thirds of adults and nearly one-fifth of children in the United States are overweight, placing them at greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases including cancer and arthritis. Furthermore, obesity and its related health problems are placing a major strain on the U.S. health care…

School health policies and programs provide the framework for a safe and supportive environment for students with asthma. School Health Policies and Programs Study 2006 data were examined to assess whether schools nationwide have policies and programs consistent with the "How Asthma-Friendly Is Your School?" checklist from the National Asthma…

In order to provide empirical evidence on the role of a web-based avian influenza (AI) education program for mass communication and also ultimately help young children learn and develop healthy behaviors against AI and all types of influenza, an education program with two episodic variations (i.e. fear and humor) has been developed and examined…

This population-based case-finding study sought to determine asthma prevalence and characterize disease severity and burden among school-aged children in the Little Rock School District. Asthma cases were identified by validated algorithm and parental report of asthma diagnosis. The overall response rate was low. Among schools with greater than…