School health workers: Strengthening child health in Hamburg!

School health workers: Strengthening child health in Hamburg!

There is movement in school health in Hamburg: From January 1, 2025, the project “School health professionals at Hamburg primary schools” will be firmly established in eleven schools with a low social index. This groundbreaking project was launched in 2020 to offer children aged five to ten years better support for their physical and mental health in their everyday school life. The project aims to make children aware of what they can do for their well-being and to try out health-promoting behaviors. The initiative was set up with a plan that is sustainable in the long term thanks to five years of financing and evaluation from the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, as hamburg.de reports.

The school health professionals are not only available to provide support with acute health problems such as accidents, pain or malaise, but also with the early detection of health problems. You work closely with teachers, educational specialists and the students' families to create a holistic health promotion concept. Extracurricular offerings are also included in the measures.

Positive feedback and clear needs

The evaluation of the project shows impressive results: According to the studies, 98.5% of teachers would like these specialists to be permanently present in schools. In addition, 99.2% of the teachers and 80.9% of the students are familiar with the school health professionals. The support is appreciated by 84.4% of teachers, while 98.6% of students report positive effects on their health. It is also noticeable that at least 71.9% of the specialists' work is on preventative measures and 68% of students quickly return to class after health incidents.

In Hamburg, school health professionals work at various primary schools, including in the districts of Wandsbek, Hamburg-Mitte, Bergedorf, Hamburg-Nord and Harburg. This shows how important broad coverage is in order to best support children in their individual and social development.

International perspectives

At the same time, the concept of school health professionals is not just a local phenomenon, but has international potential. This model is already being successfully implemented in many countries, while there are still research gaps in Germany. According to a comprehensive analysis on gesundheitsforschung-bmftr.de, a systematic literature review on the effectiveness of school health professionals will be conducted to gain insights into how these professionals can increase students' health literacy. Although there is a suggestion that studies could show a positive effect on health and quality of life, it remains to be seen how many meaningful surveys there are, especially in Germany.

If the benefits of this approach continue to be evidence-based, it could have far-reaching positive effects on the health care of students across Germany. The developments in Hamburg could therefore be an important step in the right direction to revolutionize health promotion in schools.