Abstract
Information about ways to support children with Juvenile Rheumatic Diseases (JRDs) in school will help maximize their involvement in this setting. For this study, children with JRDs provided their views about the support they need from school nurses, teachers, classmates, friends and leaders of after school activities. Parents provided information about their child’s disease and about family functioning. Results indicated that positive family functioning was related to lower needs for support from school nurses, teachers, and classmates. Family functioning was not related to the support children needed from good friends. Receiving help during after school activities and school nurse availability were areas of concern for some children. Future studies should continue to assess needs for school support for adolescents, who may need more support at school due to a decreased reliance on family support.
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Notes
The name for the illness was provided by the children. Most of the children (22%) with related disorders knew the name of their chronic illness. These included dermatomyositis (n = 6), fibromyalgia (n = 2), familia mediterranean (n = 2), HLA-B27 (n = 1), lupus (n = 1), ankylosing spondylitis (n = 3), psortiatic arthritis (n = 2), and uveitis (n = 1). For the children with JIA, several did not specify the type (n = 18), most others had polyarticular JIA (n = 28), followed by pauciarticular (n = 8) and monoarticular (n = 1). Nine children reported that they did not know the name for their disease.
The How is School Survey is available from the first author.
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Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Arthritis Foundation, Department of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati, and the Ohio Department of Mental Health for supporting this research. Moreover, the authors would like to thank Tiffany Nash, Heather Lehmkuhl, and Mark Petre for their help with data entry as well as their assistance with coding the children’s comments. Finally, the authors would like to thank the children and their families for completing study measures and would like to extend our warmest regards to the children and parents who helped us to develop this study.
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Nabors, L.A., Iobst, E.A., Weisman, J. et al. School Support and Functioning for Children with Juvenile Rheumatic Diseases. J Dev Phys Disabil 19, 81–89 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-007-9038-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-007-9038-8