School Nurse Barriers to Caring for Students with Diabetes at School

Objective: In this study, we assessed school nurses' perception of barriers to caring for a child with Type 1 diabetes in the school setting. Methods: Four semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with 29 school nurses from 4 Appalachian locations in Ohio. The researchers used purposeful sampling for the study and invited the participants by an email flyer sent through a state school nurse listserv. The focus groups ranged in size from 5-9 participants in each group and a research guide of 14 open-ended questions was used to guide the interview. The transcripts were transcribed verbatim by a research assistant and independently analyzed by 2 researchers for categories and themes. Results: Emerging themes from the interview data were: (1) nurse workload, (2) need for diabetes training for school nurses, and (3) lack of support from parent/guardians and healthcare providers. Conclusions: Our findings provide direction for school nurse staffing models, policies for diabetes management, and strategies for enhancing relationships between parents and healthcare providers.