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allied
academies
International Conference on
FAMILY MEDICINE AND FAMILY PHYSICIANS
October 16-17, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
Arch Gen Intern Med 2017 | Volume 1 Issue 3
S
chool nurses provide health promotion and health
services within schools, as healthy children have a greater
potential for optimal learning. One aspect of the school
nurses’ role is in encouraging healthy eating and increasing
the availability of fruits and vegetables in the school. The
purpose of this study was to explore and describe school
nurses’ perception of their role in promoting increased
fruit and vegetable consumption in the school setting. One
avenue to increased availability of fruits and vegetables in
schools is Farm to School programs that have been mandated
by the Federal government to increase the health of children
within the public school system. School nurses are optimally
positioned to work with the Farm to School programs to
promote healthy eating in the schools A secondary aim
was to explore school nurses’ knowledge, experiences and/
or perceptions of the Farm to School program to promote
fruit and vegetable consumption in the school setting. Three
themes that emerged from the focus groups included: if
there were more of me, I could do more; food environment
in schools; school nurses promote health. School nurses
reported that they addressed health issues more broadly in
their roles as educator, collaborator, advocate and modelling
healthy behaviours. Most of the participants knew of Farm
to School programs, but only two school nurses worked in
schools that participated in the program. Consequently, the
participants reported having little or no experiences with the
Farm to School programs.
e:
jmuckian@charter.netSchool nurse’s experiences and perceptions of healthy eating school environments
Jean Muckian
University of Wisconsin, USA