Some Health Effects of Implementing School Nursing in a Norwegian High School: A Controlled Study

The effects of a school nursing service on health complaints and mood were investigated in a Norwegian high school. The school nursing service was delivered to students in 1 high school, and students in a comparable high school served as the comparison group. There were 41 students in the treatment group and 63 in the comparison group. All students completed a survey at the beginning of 2 successive fall terms. The survey had items on common health complaints, perceived stress, efforts to cope, moods, and sense of humor. Results from multivariate analyses of variance found that test–retest variance was stable for all measures. Level of complaints tended to be reduced as an effect of access to the school nursing service. Sense of humor at follow-up tended to buffer health complaints and negative moods.