American Nurses Association 600 Maryland Avenue SW; Suite 100 West Washington, DC 20024-2571 202-651-7018; 202-651-7005 fax
CONTACT: Michael Stewart, 202-651-7048; [email protected]
Michelle Slattery, 202-651-7027; [email protected] [email protected] http://www.nursingworld.org
Kids in the Crosshairs: Registered Nurses Address the Causes and Consequences of School Violence; ANA Offers Interview Opportunities With The Experts
WASHINGTON, DC -- As researchers and practitioners, registered nurses (RNs) are at the forefront of addressing the causes and consequences of school violence. Experts from across the nation will be available to reporters for phone interviews on and after July 15. As America prepares to send its children back to school, nursing experts -- including school nurses, emergency room nurses, community health nurses, forensic nurses, psychiatric nurses, and other RNs -- can provide both up-to-the-minute research information on children and violence and personal stories of working both with the juveniles at risk of committing school violence and with the victims of that violence.
What children who kill at school often have in common is a disturbing experiential and psychological profile: they are male; they have a troubled family environment; a poor relationship with their peers, but a strong "need for group" -- and they identify with violence. Perhaps most horrifying of all, they carefully plan their attacks. Nurse-experts note as well that in two of the four most recent cases, the killings were not confined to the schools -- one or both parents were killed first. Nurse researchers are working to better determine what places certain children with some or all of these profile factors at particular risk of killing. Why do some kids kill and others don't?
America wants answers, and no health care professionals are more urgently involved in working to obtain these answers than registered nurses. Nurses bring keen observational and assessment skills to school and research settings. Prevention of public health crises such as school violence is nursing's reason for being. RNs are on the front lines in schools, in emergency rooms, as professionals providing care and psychotherapy to victims, and as forensic investigators.
To participate in telephone interviews with the experts on and after July 15, and to be mailed a media backgrounder kit, including a list of the experts and their contact information, please contact Robbi Kimball (202) 651-7197 between now and July 13. After July 13, contact Michael Stewart at (202) 651-7048 or Michelle Slattery at (202)651-7027, or by e-mail at [email protected]. (Please type "Kids in the Crosshairs" as the subject line of your e-mail message.) This release, and other ANA information for media, is available at: http://www.nursingworld.org/pressrel/index.htm or, for reporters registered with Newswise, at http://www.newswise.com (click on MedNews in Newswise.)
# # #
ANA's Biennial Convention and Exposition is being held in San Diego, CA, June 26 - July 1 at the San Diego Convention Center. Of special interest is the one-day (June 26) ANA Council for Nursing Research 1998 Pre-Convention Research and Utilization Conference on Evidence-Based Nursing Practice. Several of the San Diego sessions focus on violence prevention and research. Press Room hours of operation are Fri., 6/26, 7:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.; Sat., 6/27 - Tue., 6/30, 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.; and Wed., 7/1, 7:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. The Press Room telephone number, for Convention-related media inquiries only, is (619) 525-6303.
# # #
The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million Registered Nurses through its 53 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
RSS