
School belonging, in short, referring to children’s sense of being respected and included in school, reduces absenteeism and high dropout rates. Based on a qualitative study of public health nurses, this chapter examines experiences related to work aiming to increase school belonging among children of low-income families. The analysis indicates that school nurses have an ambivalent relationship with the work on school belonging. They feel that they have a unique position to promote children’s school belonging, but do not perceive this work as part of the core of their profession, as it is not primarily intended to promote children’s health, but to improve their relationship with school. The analysis also shows that the work of promoting children’s school belonging has its challenges, and the school nurses have many suggestions for how this work can be strengthened. An important observation is that school nurses experience their daily tasks as unclear and diffuse, which is why they feel the need to narrow them down to the core area of the profession. More policy-oriented work aimed at incorporating school belonging into the primary tasks of school health services may therefore be necessary to strengthen the nurses’ work in this area. Another key observation is that low income can be difficult to identify and address. Since this is a challenge that affects not only the work of health nurses but also everyone who works with children from low-income families, this should be given attention in further studies.
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