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Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how elementary, middle and high school health teachers in Gyeonggi province react to infectious disease like MERS.
Results
When MERS was an epidemic, school health teachers who took the ‘leading’ role were 92.4%. A school heath teacher's countermeasures against infectious diseases showed a high score during MERS outbreak (3.81) compared to regular days (3.59).
Conclusion
Based on such results, it has been determined that schools need to keep two types of procedures manual, such as ‘countermeasures on a regular basis’ and ‘countermeasures in the event of a pandemic disease outbreak’ manual in the staff offices so that anyone can view them at any time. It is necessary to prepare regulations to strengthen their authority so that school health teachers can take the role of control tower, in a professional capacity, when communicable disease is spreading. In order to prevent any confusion and chaos, there should be a unitary reporting system at each school when dealing with an epidemic. School health teachers need to get continuous training to reinforce their abilities to react to communicable diseases.
References
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Table 1.
General Characteristics of Participants by the School Level (N=1,267)
| Variables | Categories | Total (N=1267) | Elementary school (n=676) | Middle school (n=329) | High school (n=262) | x2 or F (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) or M±SD | n (%) or M±SD | n(%) or M±SD | n(%) or M±SD | |||
| School type | NPS | 1,147 (90.5) | 665 (98.4) | 294 (89.4) | 188 (71.8) | 156.72 |
| Private schools | 120 (9.5) | 11 (1.6) | 35 (30.6) | 74 (28.2) | (＜.001) | |
| Age† | ≤30 | 48 (3.8) | 16 (2.4) | 15 (4.6) | 17 (6.5) | 19.94 (.003) |
| 31~40 | 256 (20.3) | 123 (18.2) | 82 (25.0) | 51 (19.6) | ||
| 41~50 | 682 (54.0) | 392 (58.2) | 162 (49.4) | 128 (49.2) | ||
| ≥51 | 276 (21.9) | 143 (21.2) | 69 (21.0) | 64 (24.6) | ||
| 45.57±7.37 | 45.99±6.83 | 44.79±7.66 | 45.47±8.25 | 2.93 (.054) | ||
| Education | Diploma | 151 (11.9) | 85 (12.6) | 45 (13.7) | 21 (8.0) | 10.41 (.034) |
| Bachelor | 865 (68.3) | 454 (67.2) | 233 (70.8) | 178 (67.9) | ||
| ≥Master's | 251 (19.8) | 137 (20.3) | 51 (15.5) | 63 (24.0) | ||
| Career of teacher (year) | ＜4 | 282 (21.3) | 134 (19.8) | 88 (26.7) | 60 (22.9) | 52.86 (＜.001) |
| 5~9 | 220 (17.4) | 89 (13.2) | 86 (26.1) | 45 (17.2) | ||
| 10~19 | 459 (36.2) | 268 (39.6) | 100 (30.4) | 91 (34.7) | ||
| ≥20 | 306 (24.2) | 185 (27.3) | 55 (16.8) | 66 (25.2) | ||
| Whether to worked at the hospital as a nurse† | Yes | 1,143 (90.2) | 607 (89.8) | 299 (90.9) | 237 (90.5) | 0.31 (.852) |
| No | 124 (9.8) | 69 (10.2) | 30 (9.1) | 25 (9.5) | ||
| Career of nurse (year)† | ＜3 | 457 (36.0) | 255 (37.7) | 118 (35.9) | 84 (32.0) | 6.55 (.364) |
| 3~9 | 632 (49.9) | 336 (49.7) | 156 (47.4) | 140 (53.4) | ||
| ≥10 | 178 (14.0) | 85 (12.6) | 55 (16.7) | 38 (14.5) | ||
| 4.64±4.33 | 4.45±4.27 | 4.88±4.47 | 4.85±4.33 | 1.48 (.227) | ||
| Number of classrooms | ≤18 | 277 (21.9) | 170 (25.1) | 81 (24.6) | 26 (9.9) | 58.70 (＜.001) |
| 19~36 | 797 (62.9) | 388 (57.4) | 230 (69.9) | 179 (68.3) | ||
| ≥37 | 193 (15.2) | 118 (17.5) | 18 (5.5) | 57 (21.8) | ||
| School area | Metropolitan | 109 (8.6) | 50 (7.4) | 30 (9.1) | 29 (11.1) | 5.94 (.203) |
| Urban | 944 (74.5) | 500 (74.0) | 248 (75.4) | 196 (74.8) | ||
| Rural | 214 (16.9) | 126 (18.6) | 51 (15.5) | 37 (14.1) | ||
| Health education hours per 1 semester | 40.00±40.15 | 52.41±39.75 | 19.14±28.12 | 20.72±36.50 | 96.11 (＜.001) | |
Table 2.
The School's Countermeasures to Prevent the Outbreak of MERS by the School Level
| Variables | Categories | Total (n=1,267) | Elementary school (n=676) | Middle school (n=329) | High school (n=262) | x2 or F (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) or M±SD | n (%) or M±SD | n (%) or M±SD | n (%) or M±SD | |||
| In-service training in communicable disease (last 1 year)† | Yes | 856 (67.7) | 416 (61.7) | 237 (72.0) | 203 (77.5) | 25.29 (＜.001) |
| No | 409 (32.3) | 258 (38.3) | 92 (28.0) | 59 (22.5) | ||
| Whether to take the leading role | Yes | 1,171 (92.4) | 622 (92.0) | 305 (92.7) | 244 (93.1) | 0.38 (.824) |
| No | 96 (7.6) | 54 (8.0) | 24 (7.3) | 18 (6.9) | ||
| Whether to the closed at school | Yes | 687 (54.2) | 415 (61.4) | 160 (48.6) | 112 (42.7) | 32.03 (＜.001) |
| No | 580 (45.8) | 261 (38.6) | 169 (51.4) | 150 (57.3) | ||
| Number of temporary closing days in schools | 5.77±2.41 | 6.04±2.53a | 5.39±2.46b | 5.30±1.62c | 6.45 (.002) a＞b, c | |
| Patient incidence rate (parents, students, teachers& staffs)‡ | Yes | 18 (1.4) | 9 (1.3) | 3 (0.9) | 6 (2.3) | 2.06 (.370) |
| No | 1,249 (98.6) | 667 (97.7) | 326 (99.1) | 256 (98.7) | ||
| Isolated students & staffs in school | Yes | 370 (29.2) | 164 (24.3) | 94 (28.6) | 112 (42.7) | 31.30 (＜.001) |
| No | 897 (70.8) | 512 (75.7) | 235 (71.4) | 150 (57.3) | ||
| Number of students who visit nurse's office usually | 52.93±22.59 | 47.87±22.02a | 57.00±22.01b | 60.84±21.51c | 40.16 (＜.001) | |
| a＜b, c | ||||||
| Number of visitors in nurse's office at time of MERS | More than usual | 697 (55.1) | 331 (49.0) | 190 (57.8) | 176 (67.2) | 29.77 (＜.001) |
| Less than usual | 156 (12.3) | 104 (15.4) | 32 (9.7) | 20 (7.6) | ||
| Similar | 413 (32.6) | 240 (35.6) | 107 (32.5) | 66 (25.2) | ||
| Students' main symptoms in nurse's office‡ | Flu | 935 (74.0) | 503 (74.7) | 226 (68.7) | 206 (78.6) | 40.91 (＜.001) |
| Anxiety and | 185 (14.6) | 70 (10.4) | 70 (21.3) | 45 (17.2) | ||
| psychosomatic | ||||||
| Others (Trauma, | 144 (11.4) | 100 (14.9) | 33 (10.0) | 11 (4.2) | ||
| Indigestion, etc) | ||||||
Table 3.
School Health Teacher's Countermeasures Against a Communicable Disease in a Regular basis on Ordinary Times by School Levels
Table 4.
School Health Teacher's Countermeasures Against a Communicable Disease in the Event of MERS Outbreak by School Levels
Table 5.
Correlation Between Responses Against Communicable Disease in a Regular basis in Ordinary Times and in Case of MERS Outbreak
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