Principals’ Perception of Health Services in Kwara State Secondary Schools: A Qualitative Approach

Yusuf Suleiman, Zahyah Hanafi, Thanslikan Muhajir

Abstract


The common problems of learners that contribute to absenteeism in school include malaria, cough/catarrh, typhoid, headache and stomach ache. This led to the formulation of national school health policy in Nigeria to promote health services in schools. In view of the foregoing, this study assesses principals’ perception of health services in secondary schools. The study population consists of 551 principals of secondary schools (public and private) in Kwara State, Nigeria. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were employed to select 20 principals. Instrument tagged “Interview Protocol on Health Services (IPHS)” was used to elicit data from the participants. Data collected was transcribed and analysed via thematic approach. Findings revealed that majority of the schools does not have school clinic to dispense health services to learners. Our fidings also show that most of the schools lack health personnel and equipment. This study concludes that comprehensive health services were not provided for learners. The study recommends that the government should come up with policy statement on school health services that will help to provide quality health services to the learners. Adequate budget should be made by the government for the implementation of the policy. Lastly, the study provides practical and methodological contributions to the body of knowledge in the fild of education.


Keywords


school principal, qualitative approach, health services, secondary school

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ademokun,O.M Kayode O. Osungbade, K.O & Obembe, T.O (2014). “A qualitative study on status of implementation of school health programme in south western Nigeria: implications for healthy living of school age children in developing countries.” American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 2, no. 11 (2014): 1076-1087. doi: 10.12691/education-2-11-12.

Allen, G. (2003). The impact of elementary school nurses on student attendance. The Journal of School Nursing, 19 (4), 225-231.

Armstrong, C. (2011). Student and Staff Perceptions of School-Based Support Services in Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive High Schools (Doctoral dissertation, Goucher College).

Bharadwaj, P., Løken, K. V., & Neilson, C. (2013). Early life health interventions and academic achievement. The American Economic Review, 103(5), 1862-1891.

Bradley, C., Nowlan, G., Vajcner, M., Cushon, K., & Cripps, D. (2012). @ Archer September 2012 Vol. 2, No. 1.

Brooker S, Okello G, Njagi K, Dubeck MM, Halliday KE & Inyega H. (2010). Improving educational achievement and anaemia of school children: design of a cluster randomised trial of school-based malaria prevention and enhanced literacy instruction in Kenya. Trials. 2010; 11: 93.

Carney, C., McNeish, S., & McColl, J. (2005). The impact of part time employment on students' health and academic performance: a Scottish perspective. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 29(4), 307-319.

Chen, L. J., Fox, K. R., Ku, P. W., & Wang, C. H. (2012). A longitudinal study of childhood obesity, weight status change, and subsequent academic performance in Taiwanese children. Journal of School Health, 82(9), 424-431.

Cooper, P. (2005). Life Before Tests: A district's coordinated health approach for addressing children's full range of needs. School Administrator, 62 (9), 25.

Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage Publications.

Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Dairo, M. D., & Owoyokun, K. E. (2010). Factors affecting the utilization of antenatal care services in Ibadan, Nigeria. Benin Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 12(1).

Donnelly, J. E., Greene, J. L., Gibson, C. A., Sullivan, D. K., Hansen, D. M., Hillman, C. H & Washburn, R. A. (2013). Physical activity and academic achievement across the curriculum (A+ PAAC): rationale and design of a 3-year, cluster-randomized trial. BMC public health, 13(1), 307.

Eigenbrood, R. (2005). A survey comparing special education services for students with disabilities in rural faith-based and public school settings. Remedial and Special Education, 26(1), 16-24.

Engelke, M. K., Guttu, M., Warren, M. B., & Swanson, M. (2008). School nurse case management for children with chronic illness: Health, academic, and quality of life outcomes. The Journal of School Nursing, 24(4), 205-214.

Fiscella, K., & Kitzman, H. (2009). Disparities in academic achievement and health: The intersection of child education and health policy. Pediatrics, 123(3), 1073-1080.

Geierstanger, S. P., & Amaral, G. (2005). School-Based Health Centers and Academic Performance: What Is the Intersection? April 2004 Meeting Proceedings. White Paper. National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.

Gelfman, H., & Scwab, W. (2000). Program Update: Essential School Health Services. Online Submision.

Guttu, M., Engelke, M. K., & Swanson, M. (2004). Does the School Nurse‐to‐Student Ratio Make a Difference?. Journal of School Health, 74(1), 6-9.

Kim, Y. (2011). The pilot study in qualitative inquiry identifying issues and learning lessons for culturally competent research. Qualitative Social Work,10(2), 190-206.

Kolawole, A. A. (2015). Assessment of Health Services in Kogi State Public and Private Secondary Schools. Public Health Research, 5(4), 90-94.

Lee, R. L. (2011). The role of school nurses in delivering accessible health services for primary and secondary school students in Hong Kong. Journal of clinical nursing, 20(19‐20), 2968-2977.

Lisa, F.E. (2012). Improving the health and well-being of students and their academic achievement. Online Submission.

London, R. A., & Castrechini, S. (2009). A longitudinal examination of the link between youth physical fitness and academic achievement. Journal of School Health, 81(7), 400-408.

Ludeman, R. B. (2002). The role of student affairs and services in Higher Education: A practical manual for developing, implementing, and assessing student affairs programs and services. Online Submission.

Maughan, E. (2003). The impact of school nursing on school performance: A research synthesis. The Journal of School Nursing, 19(3), 163-171.

Murray, N. G., Low, B. J., Hollis, C., Cross, A. W., & Davis, S. M. (2007). Coordinated school health programs and academic achievement: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of School Health, 77(9), 589-600.

National School Health Policy, 2006. Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria, p. 1-40.

Nwimo, I. O. (2006). Status of Preventive Health Services in Secondary Schools in Owerri Education Zone, Imo State, Nigeria. Journal-International Council For Health Physical Education Recreation Sport And Dance, 42(4), 37.

Ogbiji, J. E., & Ekpo, K. (2011). The state of administration of health services among secondary schools in cross River State of Nigeria. African Research Review, 5(1).

Onah, H. E., Ikeako, L. C., & Iloabachie, G. C. (2006). Factors associated with the use of maternity services in Enugu, southeastern Nigeria. Social science & medicine, 63(7), 1870-1878.

Owens, J. S., & Fabiano, G. A. (2011). School mental health programming for youth with ADHD: Addressing needs across the academic career. School Mental Health, 3(3), 111-116.

Paina, L., & Peters, D. H. (2012). Understanding pathways for scaling up health services through the lens of complex adaptive systems. Health Policy and Planning, 27(5), 365-373.

Roney, K., Coleman, H., & Schlichting, K. A. (2007). Linking the organizational health of middle grades schools to student achievement. NASSP Bulletin, 91(4), 289-321.

Taras, H. (2005). Physical activity and student performance at school. Journal of School Health, 75(6), 214-218.

Troop, T., & Tyson, C. P. (2008). School nurses, counselors, and child and family support teams. NC Med J, 69(6), 484-486.

Turner III, D. W. (2010). Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice investigators. The qualitative report, 15(3), 754.

UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2009. Promoting quality education for orphans and vulnerable children: a source book of programme experiences in Eastern and Southern Africa. New York: UNICEF.

UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2010. Convention on the rights of a child. New York: UNICEF.

Valdez, C. R., Lambert, S. F., & Ialongo, N. S. (2011). Identifying patterns of early risk for mental health and academic problems in adolescence: A longitudinal study of urban youth. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 42(5), 521-538.

Vinciullo, F. M., & Bradley, B. J. (2009). A correlational study of the relationship between a coordinated school health program and school achievement: a case for school health. The Journal of School Nursing, 25(6), 453-465.

Walker, K., Alloway, N., Dalley-Trim, L., & Patterson, A. (2009). Counsellor practices and student perspectives: Perceptions of career counselling in Australian secondary schools. Australian Journal of Career Development, 15(1), 37-45.

Walsh, M. E., & Murphy, J. A. (2003). Children, health, and learning: A guide to the issues. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Wang, R., Chen, F., Chen, Z., Li, T., Harari, G., Tignor, S. & Campbell, A. T. (2014, September). Student life: assessing mental health, academic performance and behavioral trends of college students using smartphones. In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (pp. 3-14). ACM.

Wayne, S. J., Fortner, S. A., Kitzes, J. A., Timm, C., & Kalishman, S. (2013). Cause or effect? The relationship between student perception of the medical school learning environment and academic performance on USMLE Step 1. Medical teacher, 35(5), 376-380.

Welk, G. J., Jackson, A. W., Morrow Jr, J. R., Haskell, W. H., Meredith, M. D., & Cooper, K. H. (2010). The association of health-related fitness with indicators of academic performance in Texas schools. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 81(sup3), S16-S23.

Wikiversity (2015), “Multiple response analysis”, available at: https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Multiple_response_analysis.

World Health Organization. (2011). Guidelines for intensified tuberculosis case-finding and isoniazid preventive therapy for people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings.

Wyman, L. L. (2005). Comparing the number of ill or injured students who are released early from school by school nursing and non -nursing personnel. The Journal of school nursing, 21(6), 350-355.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ijsr.2018.7.0.123-143
Date of publication: 2019-03-02 12:20:06
Date of submission: 2018-08-03 19:39:14


Statistics


Total abstract view - 1139
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Yusuf Suleiman, Zahyah Hanafi, Thanslikan Muhajir

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.