Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on School-Based Medical Services in Austria.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic affected school students in several ways, including mental health issues, physical activity, or education. The objective of this paper is to shed light on an underexplored aspect of the pandemic by estimating its impact on the provision and utilization of routine school-based medical services by school doctors in Austria.

Methods

We utilize survey-based data on school medical services collected by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 school years. We compare both years using fixed-effects regression.

Results

In the 2019/20 school year, compared to 2018/19, we observe a decline in engagement of school health professionals in health-promoting school projects (-4.3%-points) and in first-a

SUBMITTER: Hyll W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12621155 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature