HELPING THE FAMILIES USING CHILD TO CHILD APPROACH

Author: Ms Naghma Iqbal, RN, BScN, Instructor-AKUSON

School based health program has been perceived as key structures in the delivery of health care to children. School health nurses have been the primary health care providers in the school setting & studies have shown that they positively influence the health of school children (Veronica & Barbara, 2000). The components of schools health program include health education, health services, healthy school environment, physical education, counseling & psychological services, nutrition services, community environment, & health promotion for staff (Beverly, 1997). The AKUSON faculty & students have been working with Sipahi Foundation Schools for past 7-8 years. They were providing health services & health instructions to the school. As part of services they conducted assessment of schoolchildren & found that poor dental hygiene & dental caries as well as unsafe home environment were common problems. To curtail these problems child to child approach was used with school children by faculty & students in collaboration with school management. This presentation will focus on six steps of child to child approach that, were used to minimize the said problems, include step-1 choosing & underst&ing the problem, step-2 finding out more, step-3 prioritizing discussing & planning, step-4 taking action, step-5 evaluation & step-6 doing it better.