Health concerns and teacher training of selected elementary teachers in Michigan

With reductions in the number of school-based health personnel, increased responsibility for the identification of health problems falls to the classroom teacher. This paper describes a survey of the level of health-related training among a sample of elementary teachers in a Michigan intermediate school district, with the teachers' perceptions of their ability to recognize and deal with selected student health problems. Though some differences existed between classroom and other teachers, and between veteran and newly-trained teachers, the overall results were clear--elementary teachers are not well-prepared for their expanded role. This fact was especially true for more difficult to recognize and potentially more serious health problems such as injury to the head and substance abuse, where teachers expressed considerable discomfort with their ability and lack of preparation. Several recommendations are offered relating to the need for health training.