A school nurse can be a caring, supportive, and constant presence in the life of children and adolescents. By providing physical care and emotional support, school nurses create an environment where youth are valued and actively shape their own development. Youth who feel positive about themselves are more able to engage in behaviors that are protective and supportive of their own health, and less apt to be responsive to peer pressure or negative influences in their lives.
Studies demonstrates that youth can grow positively and develop skills when they have an opportunity to interact with and learn from positive adult role models, who provide time and a genuine presence; offer emotional support; share attitudes, knowledge, and skills; and encourage youth to do more than they thought they could.
Research (Pittman 1998) reveals that six principles underline nearly all youth development frameworks. They are:
· The goal is more than prevention, by building on the positive assets of youth to create lasting competencies and connectedness.
· The process is enduring, engages youth, and is comprehensive. There are no quick fixes.
· Strategies (treatments, interventions, services, or programs) go beyond the basics. Young people need not only the essentials, such as strong miliesandsupportive schools, but also need nurturing relationships and opportunities to try new roles and help others.
· Youth development happens everywhere. Schools cannot do it alone. Youth development strategies link and complement family and community connections.
· Vision is required, not just coordination. Without a common purpose and a vision, activities just happen without meaning or connection.
· All youth are developing; all youth have strengths; all youth have needs; all youth can contribute to their communities. Essentially, successful programs focus on youth as agents of their own development and change.
For school nurses, an emphasis on programs that develop assets and build resiliency can make a positive difference in the lives of youth. At a recent conference on HIV/AIDS Professional Development, sponsored by the Statewide Center for Healthy Schools, New York State schools presented programs that nurture the development of skills needed by youth to encourage healthy behaviors. Descriptions of three programs follow.
Service learning is a youth development model that works in the Syracuse City School District, and is applicable across all grade levels. Service learning meets
community needs; coordinates the school and community; integrates curriculum; develops civic responsibility; and provides time for reflection on the service experience.
Service learning projects related to HIV/AIDS include: organizing a World’s AIDS Day at school; writing a play about people living with HIV and presenting it in the community; creating an informational lending library about HIV/AIDS; producing a comic book for younger students about HIV/AIDS; and fund-raising for a local HIV agency. Each experience provides authentic learning and allows students to experience what it means to be part of a community, while learning about HIV/AIDS. Additional service learning opportunities can be explored at www.servicelearning.org.
Suffolk County is among the top five counties in New York State reporting new HIV cases. The schools in the county are committed to ensuring that youth engage in positive health behaviors. At Wyandanch Memorial High School, SNAP (Building Skills, Networks, Assets, and Programs for Youth and Families) provides a broad array of programs that create positive experiences for youth. Healthy Choices is a series of interactive health education workshops presented on topics of concern to students, including abstinence, myths about sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and adolescent development.
Men and Women of the Future Clubs address the needs of adolescent males and females, through such experiences as community service learning projects; forums for skill building to help delay sexual activity; career exploration, and mentoring.
Another program within SNAP is the Sharing Solutions for Families workshop series that includes skill-building in families to help their children remain HIV/AIDS free. An intergenerational group of volunteers (SNAP Players) are trained to provide an improvisational role-play to look at issues facing today’s teens and adults, including HIV-AIDS prevention, with audience participation a part of the process. More information about SNAP is available at http://www.snapinc.org.
ZAP begins in K-3 with the Zapella program, and continues through high school, using the principles described by Pittman for program design. As a result of ZAP, pregnancy rates for teens in the county have declined, abstinence in early and middle adolescence is on the rise, and contraceptive use among sexually active teens has increased. Trained peer educators, age appropriate educational programs, and community involvement create an atmosphere for positive behavior change. Additional information is available at http://www.cortland-co.org/zap.
