Effectively supporting youth with chronic illness in schools

Abstract

This special issue focuses on students with chronic illness and how school personnel can most effectively support these at-risk youth. The five articles that comprise the issue represent research on a range of pediatric conditions, including sickle cell disease, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, asthma, food allergies, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and seizure disorder. These papers examine and provide critical commentary on prevention and intervention strategies, school personnel perceptions of working with students with chronic illness, and potential avenues for interdisciplinary collaboration and models of coordinated care for these medically compromised youth. Together, these articles provide an introduction to working with youth with chronic illness and are designed to assist school personnel in using and applying empirical research to their own professional work.

Keywords:

• chronic illness
• school mental health
• prevention
• intervention

Acknowledgements

The author thanks for the generous assistance provided by editorial team of Advances in School Mental Health Promotion. In particular, thanks the editorial associate Heather Lasky McDaniel for all of her help in coordinating this issue. In addition, he owes a special thank you to the following guest reviewers who lent their time and expertise to this special issue: Rinad Beidas at Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, University of Pennsylvania; Cindy Buchanan at University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus; Johanna Carpenter at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children; Lori Crosby at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Helen Herrman at Center for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne; Aimee Hildenbrand at Drexel University; Matthew Hocking at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Cheyenne Hughes at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children; Naomi Joffe at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Mary Kral at Medical University of South Carolina; Elizabeth Nicholls at Drexel University; Erica Sood at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children; and Elizabeth Vera at Loyola University Chicago.