Leach et al. (2025) School Nursing Communities of Practice Supplemental Materials

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Stephen M. Leach, Jefferson County Public Schools; Robert Shand, American University; Eva Stone, Jefferson County Public Schools; Thomas J. Reece, Jefferson County Public Schools; Emily K. Reece, Jefferson County Public Schools

Version:  View help for Version V3

Name File Type Size Last Modified
JCPS NASN Research Grant Application Partially Masked.pdf application/pdf 571.9 KB 09/03/2025 12:16:PM
School Nursing CoP Cost Analysis.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 25.6 KB 09/03/2025 11:38:AM
School Nursing CoP Online Supplement v3.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 8.8 MB 10/22/2025 03:32:PM

Project Citation: 

Leach, Stephen M., Shand, Robert, Stone, Eva, Reece, Thomas J., and Reece, Emily K. Leach et al. (2025) School Nursing Communities of Practice Supplemental Materials. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-10-22. https://doi.org/10.3886/E237666V3

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Qualitative and descriptive studies suggest school nurses can help mitigate student absenteeism. However, rigorous empirical evidence supporting specific attendance-related nursing activities is limited. Therefore, we conducted a clustered randomized controlled trial among 84 urban elementary schools to assess the cost-effectiveness of forming separate online communities of practice (CoPs) for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RNs) to improve student attendance. Using the ingredients method, we estimated average implementation costs of $764 per LPN school and $896 per RN school. Multilevel regression indicated statistically significant reduced odds of chronic absenteeism for all students (and a subgroup with chronic health conditions) and practically significant increased attendance for all students in LPN treatment versus control schools, but no significant RN CoPs effects. Findings suggest online school nursing CoPs are a potential low-cost, light-touch approach to reduce student absenteeism, given context-appropriate structure and content-focus, and adequate nurse participation.

The files in this repository include our NASN Research Grant application (de facto study protocol), R code and outputs for all primary and sensitivity effectiveness analyses, including multilevel regression assumption tests, cost surveys, and cost worksheets.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources National Association of School Nurses (Research Grant)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms School Nurse; Chronic Absenteeism; Attendance; Cost-Effectiveness Analysis; Multilevel Regression; Randomized Controlled Trial; Elementary School; Communities of Practice
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 2021 – 2024 (Student data 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years; Cost data 2022-23 school year through February 2024; Nurse survey data December 2023 - February 2024)
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 2021 – 2024 (Student data 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years; Cost data 2022-23 school year through February 2024; Nurse survey data December 2023 - February 2024)
Universe:  View help for Universe Public elementary school students and school nurses in Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY) in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. 
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data; event/transaction data; experimental data; program source code; survey data

Methodology

Sampling:  View help for Sampling Survey links sent to all treatment and control school nurses
Data Source:  View help for Data Source Administrative records, Health Manager meeting notes, Google Meet and Zoom meeting logs, study-specific surveys
Collection Mode(s):  View help for Collection Mode(s) web-based survey
Scales:  View help for Scales Open-ended surveys (one for treatment school nurses, one for control school nurses)

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Published Versions

V3 [2025-10-22]

V2 [2025-09-04]

V1 [2025-09-03]

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