Health Promotion International, Vol. 15, No. 4, 313-320,
December 2000
© Oxford University Press 2000
Danish pupils' perceived satisfaction with the health dialogue: Associations with the office and work procedure of the school health nurse
University of Copenhagen, Institute of Public Health, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Address for correspondence: Ina K. Borup Damhusdalen 15 C 2610 Roedovre Denmark E-mail: I.Borup{at}socmed.ku.dk
The aim is to identify how environmental factors, perceived by the pupils, are associated with the pupils' perceived satisfaction with a good health dialogue. This article focuses on the pupils' perception of the health office and the work procedure of the school health nurses. The present article is based on data from the 1994 Danish part of the WHO-collaborative study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children. A nation-wide random sample of pupils 11, 13 and 15 years old (n = 4046) answered a standardized questionnaire about perceived health, health behaviour, social situation, the school as a workplace and the health dialogue. The final model of the multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed eight predictor variables of perceived satisfaction with the health dialogue and three confounder variables. The predictors were: comfortable health office OR = 1.20 (95% CI 1.11–1.30), pupils sat by the desk OR = 1.12 (95% CI 1.03–1.23), pupils influenced the content of the dialogue yes/no: OR = 1.43 (95% CI 1.27–1.60), yes/don't know: OR = 0.80 (95% CI 0.72–0.89), sufficient time OR = 1.33 (95% CI 1.23–1.44), the school health nurse listened carefully OR = 1.24 (95% CI 1.13–1.35), the school health nurse talked a lot OR = 0.91 (95% CI 0.85–0.98), gave good advice OR = 1.28 (95% CI 1.18–1.43), let the pupils talk OR = 1.17 (95% CI 1.07–1.28). The confounders were: pupils' sex: female OR = 1.23 (95% CI 1.14–1.33); and age: low age OR = 1.20 (95% CI 1.07–1.35) or high age OR = 0.84 (95% CI 0.76–0.93), but not medium age, high school satisfaction OR = 1.53 (95% CI 1.31–1.77), and low school satisfaction OR = 0.74 (95% CI 0.63–0.87).
Key words: environmental factors; health promotion; health survey; pupils; school health nurse