School Nursing Practice of School-aged Children with Adverse Childhood Experiences: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

School nurses are ideally situated to serve as a primary resource for students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and provide trauma informed care to minimize their long-term effects. For this reason, there is a need to better understand their practices in this area. The purpose of this integrative literature review is to describe the types of trauma informed care practices incorporated by school nurses. To explore the phenomenon of trauma informed care practices of school nurses, the methodology described by Whittemore and Knafl (2005) was used for this integrative review of the literature. A comprehensive literature search was conducted amongst six separate databases in which ten articles were selected that satisfied the criteria. The literature was evaluated through utilization of the Johns Hopkins Research Evidence and Non-Research Appraisal Tools. Following evaluation, the ten articles were analyzed by a content analysis. Five themes were identified concerning school nurse involvement in trauma informed care. These five themes included the obscurity of the role of school nurse, the need for trauma informed education, the lack of a trauma informed standard of care, the increasing need for trauma informed care, and necessary collaborations required to foster a holistic trauma informed care environment. The findings revealed a significant gap in the literature concerning the nurses’ role in providing trauma informed care. Recommendations for future research and suggestions for potential actionable interventions concerning the school nurse are outlined in this review.