HPV Vaccination Rates of 7th Grade Students After a Strong Recommending Statement from the School Nurse.

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine can prevent 90% of cancers caused by HPV. Health care provider recommendations affect vaccine uptake, yet there are a lack of studies examining the impact of the school nurse (SN) in vaccine recommendations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of adding a SN HPV recommendation to the standard vaccination letter sent to parents/guardians. The rate of vaccination between the intervention and control schools was not statistically significant (Estimate (Std. Error) = -0.3066 (0.2151), p = 0.154). After controlling for age, sex, race, insurance type, and medical practice type, there was no significant difference in the likelihood to receive the HPV vaccine (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.563-4.19 in 2018; OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 0.124-14.54 in 2019. Further work is needed to clarify how school nurses can better promote HPV vaccine, and which adolescent demographic groups (e.g., race, insurance type, provider type) face barriers to HPV vaccine uptake.

Yoga for children.

There is an increasing interest in the use of yoga for children to calm the mind and increase health and well being. Despite scant but increasing evidence supporting the efficacy of yoga in children, special yoga programs within schools are being developed for children and adolescents. This increasing popularity of the potential benefits of yoga may encourage parents to consider yoga for their children and request referrals or clarification of the purported effects. A description of the philosophical basis of yoga, the basic components of a yoga practice, safety concerns, and how to locate and evaluate a yoga program for children will be addressed.

Reducing stress in school-age girls through mindful yoga.

INTRODUCTION: School-age children report much stress in their daily lives, which may lead to psychological and physical problems. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction is a program of awareness-based practices effective with adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of mindfulness training through yoga with school-age girls to reduce perceived stress, enhance coping abilities, self-esteem, and self-regulation, and explore the relationship between the dose of the intervention and outcomes. METHOD: Fourth- and fifth-grade girls were recruited from two public schools and randomly assigned to intervention and wait-list control groups. The intervention group met 1 hour a week for 8 weeks and completed 10 minutes of daily homework. RESULTS: Self-esteem and self-regulation increased in both groups. The intervention group was more likely to report greater appraisal of stress (p < .01) and greater frequency of coping (p < .05). Homework accounted for 7% of the variance in reported stress. DISCUSSION: Consistent with reports of mindfulness training, greater awareness of the feelings associated with stress may enhance coping abilities. However, it is possible that the increasing awareness of stressors in itself increased stress, possibly as part of the process of developing mindfulness or related to cognitive, emotional, or social development. Mindfulness in children may differ from mindfulness in adults and warrants further investigation.

Conducting school-based research: lessons learned from an after-school intervention study.

Although conducting research within schools poses challenges, the knowledge gained from studying children within the context of their lives and the availability of participants makes the school site a valuable site for research with children. The process of scheduling the research program, identifying an appropriate school site, recruiting and retaining participants, and knowing the optimal times and methods of contact is paramount to enhancing the success of a school based study.