Providing Assistance to the Victims of Adolescent Dating Violence: A National Assessment of School Nurses' Practices

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the perceptions and practices of school nurses regarding adolescent dating violence (ADV). METHODS: The membership list of the National Association of School Nurses was used to identify a national random cross-sectional sample of high school nurses in the United States (N = 750). A valid and reliable survey instrument was developed and a 3-wave postal mailing procedure was used to maximize the return rate (57%). RESULTS: Most school nurses (86.4%) reported that they did not have a protocol in their schools to respond to an incident of ADV. The majority of nurses reported that in the past 2 years, training to assist victims of ADV had not been provided to personnel in their schools (88.1%) and their schools did not conduct periodic student surveys that include questions on teen dating abuse behaviors (71.5%). Nurses who had a school protocol for responding to an incident of ADV perceived significantly fewer barriers to assisting victims of ADV and assisted more victims. Over half (55.3%) of high school nurses reported assisting a victim of ADV in the past 2 years. CONCLUSION: Nurses appear to need more training in ADV. In addition, nurses found a number of barriers (eg, lack of training on ADV, lack of time, and lack of private space) to assisting student victims of ADV. Schools need to establish a means for assessing the status of ADV in their student population. Schools also need to provide in-service education for school personnel regarding prevention, assessment, and interdiction of ADV.