Barriers to and Facilitators of School Health Care for Students with Chronic Disease as Perceived by Their Parents: A Mixed Systematic Review

Abstract

Understanding parental perspectives through mixed systematic reviews is imperative for developing effective school health care for children and adolescents with chronic disease. A mixed systematic review was conducted to explore barriers to and facilitators of school health care for students with chronic disease as perceived by their parents. Four databases (2010-2020) were searched, following which critical appraisals were conducted to determine the validity of the selected studies using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool, version 2018. Twenty articles were synthesized using the convergent integrated approach from the Joanna Briggs Institute's mixed method systematic review methodology. We examined 20 articles regarding parents' perceived barriers and facilitators and found views across four levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and public and policy. Parents perceived more barriers than facilitators. Barriers on the institutional level were the most frequently reported of all levels of barriers. These results suggest that multi-level school health interventions could be a valuable resource to facilitate effective school guidelines and public policies for students with chronic diseases.

Keywords: adolescent; caregivers; child; child health; chronic disease; healthcare review; school nursing.

Figure 1

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram was applied [21], with the flow diagram showing the search process. CINAHL, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; WOS, Web of Science.