Exploration of School Nurses' Perception of Self-Efficacy in Providing Care and Education to Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

Of the 1.25 million Americans living with type 1 diabetes mellitus, approximately 200,000 are school-aged children. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) management in schools is resource intensive. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine school nurses' perception of their ability to provide care and education to children with T1DM using a mixed method approach. The qualitative questions explored the barriers that school nurses encountered in providing quality care for children with T1DM. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 22.0 for Windows). The qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic approach. Eighty-four school nurses employed by a large school system in the southeast participated in the study. The significant findings showed that for school nurses to feel confident to care for children with T1DM, they must have readily available diabetic care management resources, parental support, effective communication with the physicians and other healthcare providers, and students' compliance to diet and medication regimens.