The Relationship Between the Use of Health Clinics in Rural Mississippi Schools and the CHIP-AE Adolescent Health Profile

Gender and Ethnic Differences in Health-Promoting Behaviors of Rural Adolescents

Although much is known about health-risk behaviors of adolescents, less is known about their health-promoting behaviors. The purpose of this analysis was to compare health-promoting behaviors in adolescents in Grades 9–12 by gender and ethnicity and explore how these behaviors changed over time. Data were collected from 878 rural adolescents (47.5% Hispanic; mean age at baseline 14.7 years). Males from all ethnic groups scored significantly higher than all females on physical activity; non-Hispanic Black males and females scored significantly higher than other ethnic groups on safety behaviors. Hispanic and non-Hispanic White females scored higher than males in these ethnic groups on stress management. Nutrition, physical activity, and safety behaviors decreased significantly for most participants from Grade 9 to 12 whereas stress management remained relatively stable. Findings are similar to those from nationally representative samples that analyzed cross-sectional data and have implications for school nursing interventions to improve health-promoting behaviors in rural adolescents.

Meaningful Use of School Health Data

Meaningful use (MU) of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is an important development in the safety and security of health care delivery in the United States. Advancement in the use of EHRs occurred with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which provides incentives for providers to support adoption and use of EHRs. School nurses play an important role in alerting the public and key decision makers to the value of school health data to the MU of EHRs. The timeline for adopting MU of EHRs is short and school nurses must participate in the process to assure MU of school health data. This article describes MU and the importance of this federal action to school health.