The Relationship Between School Attendance and Health

Abstract

This article explores eight published articles that report on the case of chronic absenteeism caused by health issues in the US. The findings of the study indicate that health problems, including asthma, oral infections, acute illness, mental health, and behavior health as the leading cause of absenteeism. The US government, in coordination with state education agencies such as Every Student, Succeeds Act (ESSA), has considered various options in solving the absenteeism. The solutions include providing nurses in every school, establishing school-based health centers, developing more mental healthcare centers, and organizing infection prevention programs that include immunization and vaccination. The building of effective partnerships that supports the students’ health is considered to be the best option to be undertaken, considering that it enhances the collaboration of the schools with various organizations, including public health sectors and other organizations. The partnership will ensure that there is a transformation in the health sector in dealing with chronic disease, mental health providing medical service to both the insured and the uninsured citizens.

The Relationship Between School Attendance and Health

Introduction

Health issues in the US have been the main reason for the cause of absenteeism in schools. Children miss schools because of illness. The majority of the children missing schools are from low-income families. The paper focuses on how diseases have been among the leading cause of absenteeism and the comparing of the better policies that can be implemented in reducing the causes of absenteeism.

Problem Statement

Chronic absenteeism refers to the missing of the students in American schools for any reason. For instance, absenteeism can be caused by various reasons including illness, excused reasons, or unexcused reason or the suspension from the school (Anderson, 2017). Approximately, more than 6.5 million children who are about 13% fail to attend the school for 15 or more days of school each year because of illness. Additionally, the students may miss school because of family responsibility, such as lack of parents that may prepare the students before attending the school (Allison & Attisha, 2019). Furthermore, housing instability where the parents are unable to afford the cost of education due to poverty, the need to work, or involvement with the juvenile justice system through being arrested (Anderson, 2017). Moreover, other students may fail to attend school, fearing to be bullied, harassed, embarrassed, or unsafe conditions in the school that may result in sickness for the students. Various parents may not see the importance of educating their children, thus considering other duties to be done by their children that will stop them from attending the school (Allison & Attisha, 2019). However, health-related issues are the most cause of absenteeism in the US. In this regard, the health problems that have been associated with the purpose of the missing school include asthma, oral health, acute illness, behavior health, and mental health. (Allison & Attisha, 2019).

Background

According to various infections that have caused high chances of absenteeism in the US, asthma has resulted in nearly one in ten children to be diagnosed with the disease. Additionally, the condition has been the leading cause of missing school by the students as it accounts for one-third of all days of missing student records (Henderson, Hill, & Norton, 2014). Records indicate that asthma suffering children are more three times likely to have ten times of absent cases in the school than their peers. In this regard, the learning institutions’ conditions have been among the cause of the disease, such as the harsh cleaning chemicals affecting the air quality in the school rooms (Elev8 Baltimore, 2012).

Oral health that includes tooth decay has been among the illness-causing absenteeism in the institutions. For instance, 20% of the children at the age of 5 to 11years have cases of at least one example of untreated tooth decay (Allison & Attisha, 2019). Additionally, children between the age of 5 to 17 years are stated to miss about two million school days every year due to dental issues (Henderson, Hill, & Norton, 2014). The dental healthcare is natural to treat, but failure to attend dental care creates consequences to the children’s health, thus causing harm, that at some time, prevents them from attending the school (Elev8 Baltimore, 2012).

Acute illness that may include strep throat and influenza has been considered as another cause of the absenteeism in the school in the US. For instance, 40 percent of the school-aged students are stated to miss the school for more than three days in the past year with the reason of suffering from the acute disease (Allison & Attisha, 2019)

Behavior and trauma have also been among the causes of absenteeism in American schools. Approximately 13 to 20percent of the children are said to have a behavioral disorder that has resulted in missing the classes in a year (Allison & Attisha, 2019). Among the children suffering from the disease, it is 25% of the patients that get the medical care of the condition; thus, the other 75% end up not attending, thus resulting in increased absenteeism in the school. For instance, children who have ADHD are said to mostly exhibit tardiness and absenteeism (Elev8 Baltimore, 2012).

What does the Chronic Absenteeism Impact

The chronic absenteeism has brought about the impact on the student and the school. For instance, students who are failing to attend the school are more likely to fall behind from the studies, and this may later result to display of discipline and behavior problems (Anderson, 2017). Consequently, the majority of students will be suspended or expelled away from the school as a result of indiscipline that has been contributed because of failing in the exams (Anderson, 2017). The indiscipline is caused as students who are absent misses the valuable instruction time, making it difficult for them to continue with the studies. Additionally, the chronic absenteeism can impact the performance of other students who have attended the classes as the teachers may try to ensure that the students missed lessons have learned what others had already learned. In this regard, there will be wastage of time and making the other students be behind the syllabus (Elev8 Baltimore, 2012).

Why is this a Problem

Attendance record in education, indicating that most of the low-income students take a large number of chronic absenteeism due to health issues, has thus been considered as a problem. In this regard, various options should be regarded as in preventing the problem to ensure balance and improvement of the education outcome in the US (Allison & Attisha, 2019).

Stakeholders

Students have been the main stakeholders in the problem of chronic absenteeism. Students are stated to contribute mostly to increase the chronic absenteeism; this is because various students may cheat their parents and guardians that they are sick to avoid attending the school (Bauer, Liu, Schanzenbach, & Shambaugh, 2018). Additionally, parents have been among the stakeholders in the problem as they may contribute to their children failing to participate in the school. Various parents may consider education to be unhelpful to their children, thus giving them other duties that will make them unable to participate in the classes (National Association Of Chronic Disease Directors, 2016). Moreover, teachers have also been among the stakeholders in the problem. Various teachers may bully students who are weak in education or abuse them, thus lowering the self-esteem of the students. Therefore children will decide to miss the school to avoid harassment by the teachers (Bauer, Liu, Schanzenbach, & Shambaugh, 2018).

Current Regulations in Place

The US government has established various options to intervene in the diseases that are causing absenteeism, thus improving the school attendance of the students. Additionally, organizations have been among the stakeholders ensuring that school attendance at community, community, and national levels improves (Allison & Attisha, 2019). The collaboration of the stakeholders has seen an improvement in school attendance. Consequently, options such as infection prevention, establish school-based health centers, school nurses, developing mental health centers, and encouraging parent interventions (Allison & Attisha, 2019).

Infection prevention

The organizations have cooperated to ensure that various measures are put in place in ensuring that the infections occurring in students increasing the rate of absenteeism in school is prevented. The policy has provided there is an increased frequency of handwashing and use of hand sanitizers, thus ensuring that hygiene is promoted among the children and the staff in learning institutions (Allison & Attisha, 2019). Additionally, vaccination, including for diseases such as influenza, has been put in practice in schools. Consequently, The action has indicated a reduction of the school absenteeism during the influenza season (Arenson, Hudson, NaeHyung, & Lai, 2019). Immunization requirements of the disease in the schools have noted increased levels of coverage in the society that results in the prevention of outbreak of vaccine-preventable sickness that could lead to absenteeism (Allison & Attisha, 2019).

Establishment of school-based Health-centers

School-based health centers (SBHCs) have indicated results of reduction of the absenteeism and improvement in the learning outcome, which includes an increased number of high school graduands and grade point average (Arenson, Hudson, NaeHyung, & Lai, 2019). Furthermore, the option has been supported by the Community Preventive Services Task Force as among the most preventive measures that have resulted in improving the health status in the families of the low-incomers and education  (Allison & Attisha, 2019). The SBHCs have been recommended in providing medical services to the students for free, thus preventing the students who might have been sent home to seek medication on their illness, thus missing classes (Arenson, Hudson, NaeHyung, & Lai, 2019).

School Nurses

Allocation of school nurses in every institution that will be attending to the students in case of illness while studying will assist in reducing the chances of absenteeism as students could be advised to leave school to seek treatment (Allison & Attisha, 2019). The nurses have been provided with the skills that will enable them to identify various health issues that may affect the quality conditions in the learning environment. According to 95% of the children who seek medical care from the nurses in the school can continue with the studies compared to 82% of the students who seek medical care for the physician that is not licensed by the school  (Allison & Attisha, 2019).

Mental Healthcare

The provision of mental healthcare in the schools has been among the options reducing the chances of school absenteeism. Additionally, learning outcome has improved as a result of providing psychological problem in the learning institutions (Henderson, Hill, & Norton, 2014). The performance is because the provision of cognitive-behavioral therapy for students who have a mental illness that may be identified by school workers, including the teachers, nurses, or other staff, may develop a healthy relationship among the children  (Allison & Attisha, 2019).

Limitations

The infection prevention in schools has faced various challenges, including the low capacity of the public health systems that are set to deal with the risk of infection, including the students in schools. In this regard, the is slower vaccination and immunization of students in the learning institutions (Henderson, Hill, & Norton, 2014). Additionally, the lack of trained personnel in providing vaccines has increased in infections among the students that have caused the rise in absenteeism. The establishment of school-based health centers has various gaps as there is no enough evidence on its effect on the education income and the absenteeism. Moreover, the impact of school health centers focuses on minority populations and low-income students. (Arenson, Hudson, NaeHyung, & Lai, 2019).

The setting of school nurses has been challenging as there is minimum evaluation of the therapists to ensure that they have competency knowledge, skills, and experience that is required in providing medical assistance to the students. Furthermore, limited resources for the attendants in the school has been a challenge (Allison & Attisha, 2019). In this regard, they limit the provision of mental healthcare services to the students who may suffer psychological problems. Consequently, parents will be forced to find additional care for their children who cannot be treated in the learning institutions (National Association Of Chronic Disease Directors, 2016). Various parents of low income will be unable to take their children to a hospital outside the school, causing them to stay at home and increase the number of absenteeism (Bauer, Liu, Schanzenbach, & Shambaugh, 2018).

Policy Analysis

Building an effective partnership to support student health,

schools have been encouraged to collaborate with hospitals or public health sectors to ensure that the chances of absenteeism have reduced in schools. The partnership will ensure the provision of affordable care act that will provide the transformation of the health care systems that will increase the prevention of the disease, regulation of community-based healthcare, chronic disease management, population health, and care coordination (National Association Of Chronic Disease Directors, 2016). In this regard, healthcare sectors have been able to meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act by partnering with schools in addressing various factors that will result in a decrease in chronic absenteeism. The policy pushes for the health sectors to provide free care to uninsured patients (Kearney, Gonzalvez, Graczyk, & Fornander, 2019).

Building Capacity Policy

The Building capacity policy that is implemented in reducing the chances of chronic absenteeism through supporting efforts and developing the capacity of the school and key partners that will access the existing resources (Allison & Attisha, 2019). Therefore, the policy will ensure adequate training and support of the sustainability of their work towards the building of capacity of the schools in implementing effective interventions. In this regard, the school will have to ensure the sustainability of efforts that will assist in addressing the chronic absenteeism (National Association Of Chronic Disease Directors, 2016). Various strategies include the collaboration of schools and the health sectors, schools considering multiple funding sources, and increasing access to resources through Medicaid (Kearney, Gonzalvez, Graczyk, & Fornander, 2019).

Compare and Contrast the Options.

The policies set for the reduction of chronic absenteeism have difference as the provisions of the Affordable Care Act policy involves various coordination of stakeholders, including the community members, medical providers (Kearney, Gonzalvez, Graczyk, & Fornander, 2019). Additionally, the building capacity program includes the specialized instructional support personnel, local hospitals, community organizations, state education agencies such as Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), US department of education, and regional offices of the USEPA and USDA (Kearney, Gonzalvez, Graczyk, & Fornander, 2019). The main objective of the building capacity policy is to ensure that the school staff understands the health-related causes of chronic absenteeism and how to implement the interventions. In contrast, the Affordable Care Act policy provides that the healthcare systems transform by prioritizing the prevention of disease and enhancing community-based care and chronic disease management (Kearney, Gonzalvez, Graczyk, & Fornander, 2019).

Recommendations

Provision of the Affordable Care cost is the best option that can be pursued in preventing the rate of chronic absenteeism in the US school. The act will ensure that all the health sectors that may provide medical care to the children reducing chronic absenteeism have been transformed. The health sectors may include the community-care, school-based health care, and ensuring that they meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (National Association Of Chronic Disease Directors, 2016).

Conclusion

Chronic absenteeism results in school dropouts and may also lower the performance of a school. Health is the primary cause of absenteeism, formulation of policies and interventions will assist in reducing the rate of absenteeism, thus improving the education performance of the students. Additionally, it will result in a balance between children from low-income families who have been the most students missing school due to health problems.

References

Allison, M. A., & Attisha, E. (2019). The Link Between School Attendance and Good Health. Pediatrics, 143(2), 13.

Anderson, J. (Director). (2017). Chronic Absenteeism: A Key Indicator for Student Success [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2rZthxm

Arenson, M., Hudson, P. J., NaeHyung, L., & Lai, B. (2019). The Evidence on School-Based Health Centers: A Review. Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, 6, 1-10.

Bauer, L., Liu, P., Schanzenbach, D. W., & Shambaugh, J. (2018). Reducing Chronic Absenteeism under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Hamilton Project, 31.

Elev8 Baltimore. (2012). State of Chronic Absenteeism and School Health. Baltimore: Baltimore Student Attendance Campaign.

Henderson, T., Hill, C., & Norton, K. (2014). The Connection Between Missing School and Health: A Review of Chronic Absenteeism and Student Health in Oregon. Oregon: Upstream Public Health.

Kearney, C. A., Gonzalvez, C., Graczyk, P. A., & Fornander, M. J. (2019, October 16). Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1). Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 16. Retrieved from Frontiers in Psychology.

National Association Of Chronic Disease Directors. (2016). School Attendance, Chronic Health Conditions, and Leveraging Data for Improvement. Atlanta: National Association of Chronic Disease Directors.