Factors related to school absence among children with cardiac conditions
M. G. Fowler, M. P. Johnson, K. J. Welshimer, S. S. Atkinson and F. A. Loda
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27514.
This study compared psychosocial and health factors related to school
absence among 62 children with cardiac disease and 62 age-, sex-, and
race-matched peers without chronic health conditions. Parents of children
with cardiac conditions perceived their children as more vulnerable and
rated themselves and their children as having less control over improving
their children's health status than did parents of the well children.
Increased school absentee rates for the cardiac group were associated with
measures of illness severity, parental patterns of absenting their child
from school for minor illnesses, and decreased belief in their child's
ability to improve his or her health status. For the well comparison group,
increased absence was related to external health locus of control beliefs,
increased maternal sick days, and demographic factors. School absence was
not significantly related to social adaptation, self-esteem, or school
achievement for either the well or cardiac groups.