| AAP-NASN school health, mental health, and safety guidelines |
American Academy of Pediatrics and National Association of School Nurses
NEW HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY GUIDELINES AVAILABLE FOR SCHOOLS ON NATIONAL CHILD HEALTH DAY
CHICAGO - October 4, 2004
Schools are assuming an increasingly important role in health promotion,
disease prevention, and injury prevention in the lives of children and
adolescents. To help schools deal with issues that vary from violence to substance abuse
to obesity, more than 300 health, mental health, safety, school health and
education professionals joined together in developing the Health, Mental Health
and Safety Guidelines for Schools (HMHSGS.) The project was led by the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Association of School Nurses
(NASN), with funding from the Health Resources and Services
Administration/Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA/MCHB).
The purpose of the HMHSGS is to help those who influence the health, mental
health and safety of students and school staff while they are in school, on
school grounds, on their way to or from school, or involved in school-sponsored
activities.
These guidelines are prepared for those who play a role in the assessment,
planning, or improvement of school health and safety programs, including school
administrators, school board members, parents, school health professionals,
educators, community leaders, legislators at all levels, professionals in
government agencies (e.g., education, health, safety, transportation, justice, and
labor) and students.
Topics included in the HMHSGS are:
* Overarching School Health and Safety Issues
* Family and Community Involvement
* Health and Mental Health Services
* Health and Safety Education
* Nutrition and Food Services
* Physical Education
* Physical Environment and Transportation
* Social Environment
* Staff Health and Safety
Health, mental health, and safety are inextricably linked to student
achievement. Poor nutrition, impaired vision or hearing, dental pain, sleep
deficiency, substance abuse, anxiety about home life, anxiety about relations with
peers and exposure to violence are examples of health and safety issues associated
with low achievement in school. Complementary to the idea of optimizing
health, mental health and safety to improve student achievement, is the
understanding that an educated public benefits the health and safety of the population.
The guidelines are available for free download at http://www.schoolhealth.org
Users may also print out hard copies of the guidelines off the Web site.
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| Date posted: 10-08-2004 |
| Posted by: Community Action to Fight Asthma |
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