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Predictors of missed school days among military connected families: A feasibility study
Janet Gehring1, Rebecca C Robert
1Catholic University of America Conway School of Nursing, Washington, DC.
Insights
Factors like hours of care, family work hour changes, and activity limitations predict missed school days for military children with special health care needs. This research highlights key areas for intervention and support.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Military Family Studies
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Limited research exists on the health of military children, particularly those with special healthcare needs.
- Military-connected families are crucial to national security, necessitating studies on child and family health factors.
- Accessing military-connected families for research presents unique challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify factors predicting missed school days in military children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN).
- To utilize missed school days as a proxy for health status and chronic condition management success.
- To inform healthcare providers, such as nurse practitioners, about key indicators for intervention.
Main Methods:
- Secondary data analysis of the National Survey of CSHCN.
- Utilized a subsample of military-connected families identified by self-reported insurance type.
- Employed multivariable logistic regression to identify predictive factors.
Main Results:
- Identified 1,656 military CSHCN in the sample.
- Hours of care per week, changes in family work hours, and child's activity limitations were significant predictors of ≥4 missed school days annually.
- The study demonstrated a novel method for sampling military CSHCN using insurance data.
Conclusions:
- Findings can guide assessments, interventions, and referrals for nurse practitioners caring for military CSHCN.
- Advocates for the inclusion of military-connected families in national survey sampling frameworks.
- Highlights the importance of addressing factors impacting school attendance for military children's health and well-being.
Background:
There is a paucity of research specific to military children's health, especially those with special needs. This may be partly attributed to the difficulty in accessing military connected families as a population. Yet, given the recognized importance of military connected families to the national security agenda, a need exists for studies to explore factors underlying child and family health.
Purpose:
We sought to identify factors among a sample of military children with special health care needs (CSHCN) predictive of missed school days, a commonly used measure of health and one used by NPs to monitor chronic conditions management success.
Methodology:
We used a secondary data analysis design and multivariable logistic regression with a subsample of military connected families from the National Survey of CSHCN identified by their reported insurance type.
Results:
We identified 1,656 military CSHCN. According to the adjusted model, hours of care per week, family work hours change, and activity limitations for the child were positive predictors of ≥4 missed school days per year.
Conclusion/Implications:
Our models identified important predictors of missed school days among military children that may inform assessments, interventions, and referrals by nurse practitioners caring for them. We identified a robust sample of military CSHCN from the National Survey of CSHCN by using self-reported insurance, a novel and simple approach to conducting a focused study of this population. Although feasible, this sampling approach was not without limitations. We advocate for including military connected families within sampling frameworks of national surveys to ensure that studies with this critical and unique population continue.
