Parent knowledge and opinions of school health services in an urban public school system

Health services, provided through schools for more than 100 years, increasingly have expanded to meet preventive as well as acute health care needs of children. This article reports on a survey of parents of third-grade children in an urban public school system. The authors examined what parents know about school health services, what value they place on the services, and what barriers exist to health care access. Results indicated parents place a high value on health services offered in schools, but they know little about service availability and use. Parents often were unaware their children received many of the services listed, such as review of school health records, vision and hearing screening, and health education by school nurses.