Schoolteachers' Experiences With Childhood Chronic Illness

The objective of this study was to examine the degree to which educators face problems associated with chronic illness in their pupils, the extent to which they feel responsible for addressing such problems, and the amount of training to deal with these problems. One hundred schools randomly selected from 10 counties in a midwest state stratified on substance abuse deaths, mental health costs, and socioeconomic status (percentage of free lunches) were approached, and 17 agreed to participate. Of the 1,184 eligible educators, 480 provided complete surveys (response rate = 40%). Nearly every respondent (98.7%) reported knowing a student in the school with a chronic illness, and 43% felt moderately to very responsible for dealing with issues of chronic illness, yet 59% reported no academic training and 64% reported no on-the-job training for dealing with issues of chronic illness. Schoolteachers are ill-prepared to deal with issues of chronic illness in the schools. Practice implications are discussed.