Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the urologic self-care in the school life of children with spina bifida and discuss nursing implications for the promotion of urologic self-care. Thirteen school children and parents and eight school teachers were administrated questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Thirteen school children with spina bifida performed clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) for urination management. When they "can perform urologic self-care in their natural style", they had no trouble with friends, and received proper support from teachers in many cases. Children who were teased by classmates after the classmates knew of their urination trouble had negative feelings concerning school life and urination self-care. In cases where they had negative feelings about school life or depended on others for urologic self-care behavior, they had only a limited number of occasions to experience CIC in school, and urine contamination continued. In developing nursing intervention that aims at promoting urologic self-care of school children with spina bifida, it is of great importance to examine methods for performing urologic self-care in a natural style in the context of school life. What must also be considered are children's friendships and their need to experience a pleasant school life, as well as coordination to receive the proper support from teachers .
