The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68566

Susan R. Opas, PhD, CPNP, CHES, Kaiser Permanente, Children's Center, 5800 Jed Smith Road, Hidden Hills, CA 91302, 818-719-2565, Susan.R.Opas@kp.org

The purpose is to describe an early intervention approach toward aggression in elementary school. The significance of school-based violence outcomes research was identified in the Healthy 2000's initiatives. The year 2000 goal was reduction of youth violence by 20%. As reported in 1997, over 80 developed intervention curricula were based on educating children toward violence reduction. Programs were not focused toward immediate intervention strategies. The conceptual frameworks to order and present data are moral development and conflict resolution. The moral concepts utilized Kohlberg's "ethics and justice" and Gilligan's "ethic of care". Conflict resolution is the framework selected to consistently present and negotiate the outcomes for each act of violence. The research design developed through ethnography on school nurse practice, roles and responsibilities. The study method was participant observation utilizing Spradley's developmental research sequence. Observation phases involved contextual descriptions of the settings, participants and events. Phase two was focused observations of the nurse in locations of care giving. The final phase consisted of selected observations and participant interviews. Findings in the health office log showed 22 acts of aggressive behavior. The nurse's role of mediator is described in 14 observed and recorded situations. The presentation will explore Deutsch's eight similar and consistent steps of conflict resolution she used. Study outcome showed one student in the population who was aggressive toward different peers, twice. No other incident nor student repeated after the nurse's intervention.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe an early intervention approach toward violence used with aggressive elementary-level students.
• Construct an intervention model based on concepts of moral development.
• Apply the school nurse - as mediator model toward incidents of early aggression in elementary-grade students.

Keywords: , School-Based Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.