The School Nurse’s Role in the Identification and Handling of Somatization in Students

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to understand more about the number of students who go to the nurses’ office complaining of medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) and determine if nurses are involved in any school mental health support teams. A 34-question survey was created by myself to address three hypotheses in this study. Nurse’s reported a minimal level of involvement on school support teams within the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS), indicating support for hypothesis 1. The second hypothesis was not supported with respondents indicating they see more than just younger populations as having more medically unexplained symptoms. The third hypothesis was supported with respondents indicating they are trained in identifying MUS. In addition to the three research questions, eight items in the survey were included to understand more about the function of the nurses’ role and what happens to students when they visit the school nurse.