[Young persons's personal experiences in student counseling and health care]

The aim of the study was to clarify the present student counseling and school health care of young people who have experienced difficulties at school. The aim was to enlighten the multidimensionality of their personal experiences and to understand the fundamentals of student counseling and school health care from this perspective. The theoretical basis of the study was in Rogers' and Parse's theories of nursing. In these theories man is viewed as a unitary being in continuous mutual interrelationship with the environment. The research method was phenomenological and the research material consists of theme interviews. Nine young people, aged 15-16 years, who had experienced difficulties at school and the student counselors and the health care personnel at their school were interviewed. Many difficulties were entangled together in the young peoples lives. The professionals had different viewpoints on the personal experiences of the young people based on their different beliefs about man. It was not possible to differentiate exactly the tasks of the different professions. The study gives evidence of the importance of observating the personal experiences of the young people in their entirety in school nursing and in student counseling. From this basis health promotion could be possible.