Changes in Japanese Junior High School Students' Sense of Coherence Before and After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study of Children and Mothers.

We conducted a longitudinal study to clarify the changes in the sense of coherence (SOC); that is, the ability to cope with stress successfully, of 166 Japanese junior high school students and their mothers before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we analyzed changes in SOC at three time points for all students and divided them into two groups: Group 1 included students with SOC scores that increased or maintained before and after the onset of the pandemic and Group 2 included students with decreased SOC scores after the onset of the pandemic. Second, we conducted a comparative analysis between the two groups. Overall, results indicated that student's SOC scores increased. Additionally, interpersonal stress scores were lower after the onset of the pandemic than before. There were almost no differences in family relationships, financial conditions, or personality tendencies between the two groups. However, Group 2 did not regain their sense of belonging to school. In this group, the frequency of stress experiences in club activities after the onset of the pandemic, troubles with the opposite gender, and inability to catch up with the contents of the subject lecture were high. The accumulation of small stressors may have hindered the maintenance of a sense of school affiliation. Mothers of students in Group 2 either were full-time employees at baseline or had started a new job after the onset of the pandemic. Their children may have been affected by the household's damaged financial budget and changes in mother's working styles. As COVID-19 reduced the number of days students went to school, students' SOC could have reduced had they not felt a sense of presence or belonging due to the lack of participation in club activities, school events, etc. Teachers and mothers should communicate carefully with their students and children, respectively, to develop a sense of belonging.

Supporting by a nurse teacher in a school infirmary using collage therapy.

The objective of this study is to verify the effects of collage therapy when applied in the school infirmary, without time restriction, to children with problems such as school refusal. Collage therapy was used with two students who refused to attend school for a period of 1 year and 2 months to 1 year and 7 months. The results showed that both cases were successful in recovering self-insight and starting to pursue a course leading to the establishment of their identity. For students with various mental health problems, the school, as a community of school friends of the same generation, has been suggested to be one of the most important places for the recovery of energy. The performance in the school infirmary of collage therapy without any time restraints makes use of this environment, and appears to foster self-insight and self-understanding, and hence promote recovery from mental health problems.

Development of a psychosomatic complaints scale for adolescents.

There have been only a few questionnaires that can be used to comprehend the psychosomatic complaints of adolescents. Therefore, the objective of the present investigation was to develop a scale for high school students in order to comprehend psychosomatic complaints deriving from psychologic problems. The collection of scale items was performed referring to the health actual situation survey carried out on Japanese school children in the past, and 30 items with a high incidence of psychosomatic complaints were selected out of them and were set as scale items. A survey to assess reliability and validity of the 30 items of the psychosomatic complaint scale was then conducted on the subjects of 759 high school students in total over 3 years. At assessment of validity of the scale, one-factor structure was confirmed by factor analysis and both the eigenvalue and factor loading were found to be at acceptable levels. Further, at assessment of the reliability of the scale, both Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicating internal consistency and the correlation coefficient indicating reproducibility were found to be high. It was concluded that the psychosomatic complaint scale developed in the present investigation was excellent in validity and reliability and was highly practical, having a reduced number of items.