Chang and Romero (2008) recommend recording
absence reason by categories. Because the intervention was
nursing based, the illness category was amended to be more
specific (respiratory, gastrointestinal [GI], or genitourinary
[GU], fever, dental, communicable disease, seizures, or
other medical). If the reason for absence turned out to not
to be illness, the other categories used were family activity,
family illness, transportation, or unknown, consistent with
Chang and Romero’s recommendation.