Predictors of missed school days among military connected families: A feasibility study

Gehring, J., & Robert, R. C. (2023). Predictors of missed school days among military connected families: A feasibility study. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 35(1), 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000783

This study examined how factors related to managing the needs of a child with chronic health conditions contribute to children’s missed school days. Data were from a nationally representative sample of 40,242 families who had a child with special health care needs, including 1,656 military-affiliated families. Parents of children with chronic health conditions reported on contextual care factors, such as weekly hours spent providing and coordinating health care for their child, whether family members had reduced work hours or stopped working due to their child’s health care needs, and whether their child’s daily living activities were affected by their health condition, as well as how many school days their child missed in the past year. After accounting for demographic information (e.g., child gender, family structure) and emotional-behavioral conditions (e.g., anxiety, autism), the amount of time that parents spent providing and coordinating care was a robust predictor of missed school days (4+ a year).

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