School health services as prescribed and practised--do they correspond?

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the correspondence between officially prescribed objectives of the school health service and the actual practice. The health and contacts with the school health service during one school year of 383 children from two school management areas in Uppsala were studied through school health records and interviews with the school nurse. The results showed that the children's physical health and development were followed up continuously and were carefully documented. Their psychosocial status was well known by a nurse familiar with the area but documented only to a minor extent. There was a relationship between psychosocial problems, male sex and low social class. Children with psychosocial problems did not visit the school health clinic to any major extent. The official objective to promote psychosocial health did not seem to correspond to existing programmes and routines.