Child and Youth Healthcare Department, GGD West-Brabant, Breda, The Netherlands.
Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jan 20;21(1):170. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10193-1.
Absence from school can lead to lower educational achievement and poor health. Little is known about school absence in primary education. This study's first aim was to examine the prevalence of school absence in primary schools and differing types of absence, including sickness absence. The second aim was to determine which pupil characteristics and types of absence were associated with extensive sickness absence.
The school absence registries for the school year 2015-2016 were analysed retrospectively in eight mainstream primary schools with 2216 pupils, and six schools for special primary education with 1000 pupils in the West-Brabant region of the Netherlands. Descriptive analyses, χ-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests and logistic regression analyses were performed.
The one-year prevalence of school absence was 85% in mainstream primary schools and 79% in special schools. Sickness absence was the most prevalent type of absence, occurring in 75 and 71% of pupils, respectively The prevalence of extensive sickness absence was 13 and 23%, respectively. In mainstream schools, extensive sickness absence was associated with a young age, low parental educational level, more doctor's visits and unauthorised absence, and in special schools with more doctor's visits, other authorised absence, tardiness and unauthorised absence.
The prevalence of extensive sickness absence was high, and as this was associated with other types of absence, these pupils missed even more days of school. Public health research, policy and practice should address sickness absence among primary school pupils, to prevent adverse effects on children's development.
缺课可能导致教育成就下降和健康状况不佳。人们对小学的缺课情况知之甚少。本研究的第一个目的是调查小学缺课的流行情况，以及不同类型的缺课，包括病假。第二个目的是确定哪些学生特征和缺课类型与频繁的病假有关。
在荷兰西布拉邦地区的 8 所主流小学（2216 名学生）和 6 所特殊小学（1000 名学生）中，回顾性地分析了 2015-2016 学年的缺课登记册。进行了描述性分析、χ 检验、Mann-Whitney U 检验和逻辑回归分析。
主流小学一年的缺课率为 85%，特殊学校为 79%。病假是最常见的缺课类型，分别有 75%和 71%的学生缺课。频繁病假的发生率分别为 13%和 23%。在主流学校中，频繁的病假与年龄较小、父母教育水平较低、看医生次数较多和未经授权的缺勤有关，而在特殊学校中，频繁的病假与看医生次数较多、其他授权缺勤、迟到和未经授权的缺勤有关。
频繁病假的发生率很高，由于这与其他类型的缺勤有关，这些学生甚至错过了更多的上课时间。公共卫生研究、政策和实践应解决小学生的病假问题，以防止对儿童发展产生不利影响。
