J Korean Community Nurs.  1989 Feb;1(1):379-411.

A Study on the Distribution of Health Teachers in Korea and the Conditions of Health Teachers' Work

• Kim EH

Abstract

1. CONCLUSIONS: This study tried to grasp the conditions of Korean health teachers in individual schools, and get basic data for school nursing job performance. The subjects of the study were 1,082 health teachers who understood the purpose of this study and allowed their participation, out of a population of 2,577 health teachers who worked for elementary, middle, and high schools in cities and provinces as of 1986. The former figure accounted for 42.0% of the whole health teachers. As the research tool, a questionnaire composed on the basis of the review of the literature by professors in the research group of the Academic Society of Community Nursing was used. Data collection was done from August to October 1986. After copies of the questionnaire were distributed under the cooperation of the 13 city/province boards of education, the subjects filled them up on their own, and then sent them by mail. The results of the study are as follows. 1) Conditions of the current schools: Nationwide, health teachers were distributed 27.8% of the schools as of 1986. The distribution rate was highest in Seoul (92.9%), which was followed by Busan, Incheon, Daegu, Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Jeonnam, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Gangwon, Gyeongbuk, and Jeju in that order. On the other hand, each health teacher turned out to be in charge of 3.6 schools, 68.3 classes, 3404.2 students, and 95.3 teachers nationwide. In the case of elementary schools, each health teacher turned out to be in charge of 3.4 schools, 58.0 classes, 2565.4 students, and 66.6 teachers. In the case of middle schools, each health teacher was in charge of 4.1 schools, 82.3 classes, 4989.8 students, and 126.9 teachers. In the case of high schools, each health teacher was in charge of 3.9 schools, 97.4 classes, 5203.1 students, and 184.9 teachers. 2) General characteristics of the health teachers: The subjects were most greatly distributed in the 25-29 age group (37.7%), and 37.5% of the whole health teachers had work experience for 4 or less years. As many as 41.3% of the health teachers reported that they had no past clinical experience except health teacher jobs, and even 79.1% reported they had no experience in the health service area. As for their backgrounds, 73.4% graduated from a nursing college, 78.2% were married, and 65.1% had a religion. Also, 93.5% worked at national or public institutions, and 84.4% carried out their jobs independently. 3) Conditions of School Health Service Resources: Nationwide, 18.4% of the schools had 501-1000 students, 43.0% had 21-40 classes, and 34% had 41-60 teachers. Those figures represent the most common rates. Also, only 46.8% knew of school health budgets, and the ratio of health budget to whole school budget was known only to 34.1%. On the other hand, as for the total annual school health budget, 40.3% of the schools had 290 thousand won or less, and this figure represented the highest frequency. Of this amount of budget, 39.8% was used for medical tests, and 38.6% was for medication management. As for the total expenditures, schools in Seoul and Incheon turned out to spend relatively great amounts of money. Only 30.7% of the schools had a health department. As for places of school infirmaries, 45.3% of the schools had one in the center, and 72.7% had one on the ground floor. As for the conditions of school infirmary use, 79.0% adopted the exclusive use, and 68.7% had an area of 10 peyong for an infirmary. 4) Conditions of school nursing jobs: Nationwide, the average number of monthly infirmary users was 101-200 persons, which represented 33.3% of the schools and the highest frequency. 1872.4 persons used a school infirmary annually, and as for infirmary users based on their purposes, 32.3% (the figure represented the highest frequency) of them visited their school infirmary for the reason of digestive problems, which were followed by respiratory problems, skin diseases, muscular skeletal problems, consulting, oral/dental problems, otolaryngological problems, neuropsychiatric problems, circulatory problems, and urinogenital problems in that order. The frequency of annual newsletter sending was about 13.0, and of them 32.0% were about health education, which represented the highest frequency, followed by vaccination, parasite tests, notification of physical examination results, and things about physical examination in that order. On the other hand, as for the average monthly rate of time spent for school nursing jobs, 26.2% of the whole amount of time (the highest frequency) was used for school infirmary management, which was followed by health care, health education, service planning and evaluation, school environment/sanitation management, chores, class for relevant subjects, and organizational administration of school health services in that order. 5) Confidence in school nursing job performance: The subject teachers' confidence in school job performance was compared by a four point scale consisting of 4 points for 'very confident,' 3 points for 'confident,' 2 points for 'unconfident,' and one point for 'very unconfident.' As a result of the measurement of health teachers' school nursing jobs by dividing them into 6 areas, the whole score was 2.75. The score of confidence in infirmary management was highest (2.93), which was followed by confidence in health education planning and evaluation, in health care, in environmental control, and organizational administration of school health services in that order. As for the highest region-based score of confidence, the health teachers from Jeonnam received 2.98 points. In the area of service planning and evaluation, the score of confidence in performance of school health service planning turned out to be the highest (2.91), and the health teachers from Jeonnam received the highest score of confidence in performance (2.98). In the area of infirmary management, the score of confidence in performance of student consulting appeared to be the highest (3.13), and the health teacher from Jeonnam received the highest score of confidence in performance (3.04). In the area of health education, the score of confidence in performance of understanding of contents turned out to be the highest (3.00), and the health teachers from Jeju received the highest score of confidence in performance (3.05). In the area of environmental management, the score of confidence in bathroom maintenance appeared to be the highest (2.86), and the health teacher from Jeonnam received the highest score of confidence in performance (2.93). In the area of organizational administration of school health services, the score of confidence in performance of engagement in local society's health service activities turned out to be relatively high (2.48), and the health teachers from Chungbuk, Jeonnam, and Jeju received a relatively high score of confidence in performance (2.55). In the area of health care, the score of confidence in emergency treatment appeared to be the highest (3.00), and the health teacher from Jeonnam received the highest score of confidence in performance (3.01). 6) Performance levels of school nursing jobs: The subject health teachers' performance levels of school nursing jobs were compared by giving 2 points for "do" and one point for "don't do." As a result of the measurement of health teachers' school nursing jobs by dividing them into 6 areas, the whole score was 1.73. The performance level of infirmary management was the highest (1.87), which was followed by infirmary management, health service planning and evaluation, health care, in environmental control, and organizational administration of school health services in that order. As for the highest region-based performance level, the health teachers from Chungbuk received 2.98 points. In the area of service planning and evaluation, the performance level of school health service planning turned out to be the highest (1.95), and the health teachers from Jeonnam received the highest score of performance level (1.88). In the area of infirmary management, the performance level of infirmary running appeared to be the highest (1.96), and the health teacher from Chungbuk and Jeju received the highest score of performance level (1.88). In the area of health education, the performance level of understanding of contents turned out to be the highest (1.96), and the health teachers from Jeju received the highest score of performance level (1.98). In the area of environmental management, the performance level of safety control appeared to be the highest (1.89), and the health teacher from Chungbuk received the highest score of performance level (1.81). In the area of organizational administration of school health services, the performance level of engagement in local society's health service activities turned out to be relatively high (1.41), and the health teachers from Chungbuk received the highest score of performance level (1.55). In the area of health care, the performance level of stomachache treatment appeared to be the highest (2.00), and the health teacher from Chungbuk and Chungnam received the highest score of performance level (3.01). 2. SUGGESTIONS: The current researchers make the following proposals after their survey on the distribution of health teachers in Korea and the conditions of their work. 1. Health teachers themselves should be positive in improving their merits for promoting the school population's health. 2. Political supports should be sufficient that are required to keep the school population's health. 3. As this study has just investigated the conditions of a few factors working as common variables, deeper and more improved research and data should be further supported by local research reports and future investigations.

MeSH Terms

Budgets
Busan
Catchment Area (Health)
Chungcheongbuk-do
Chungcheongnam-do
Daegu
Surveys and Questionnaires
Delivery of Health Care
Education
Emergency Treatment
Gangwon-do
Gyeonggi-do
Gyeongsangbuk-do
Hand
Hand Strength
Health Education
Health Expenditures
Health Services
Humans
Incheon
Jeollabuk-do
Jeollanam-do
Korea*
Nursing
Parasites
Periodicals as Topic
Physical Examination
Postal Service
Research Report
Running
School Health Services
School Nursing
Seoul
Skin Diseases
Vaccination