ABSTRACT
In this article, a Nursing Workforce Diversity grant-funded project examined the social determinants of health (SDH) including diverse high school and baccalaureate nursing students. All involved students were from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds and/or underrepresented minority groups. The purpose of this article is to report the project outcome data and analysis gathered from students' experiences of SDH, using the collaborative method, listening sessions. The project staff and student nurses discussed SDH with high school students, who then identified and prioritized key SDH in their neighborhoods during a series of facilitated listening sessions in their schools. Initial analysis included reviewing, with the students, the notes taken during the sessions, resulting in a list of SDH to address. As a secondary analysis, the listening session tapes were transcribed and independently coded and examined by project staff. Six themes evolved that illustrate the depth of understanding of the complex challenges of SDH experienced by students in their local communities. Based on student-determined priorities, the project staff developed programs to meet the identified SDH needs at both high schools. Nursing and other health professionals are in ideal positions to collaborate with schools to create programming interventions for addressing SDH effectively into the future.
Subject(s)
Nursing Staff , Students, Nursing , Humans , Minority Groups , Social Determinants of HealthABSTRACT
Changes in the delivery of community/public health (C/PH) nursing have challenged nursing educators to seek innovative ways to ensure that their educational programs produce competent entry-level practitioners. This article describes how public health professionals and faculty from eight regional colleges and universities in Southeastern Wisconsin came together to better understand both what C/PH nursing content was being taught in the region, and the extent to which that content was aligned with the Public Health Nurse Competencies defined by the Quad Council in 2004. Based on self-reporting by nursing school faculty as well as a separate mapping of course objectives into the competency areas, the project found that the curricula of the participating colleges and universities adequately addressed most of the competencies in the Quad Council domains one through six. Competencies in domains seven (financial planning/management skills) and eight (leadership/systems thinking skills) were not, however, adequately addressed and plans were subsequently developed to fill those gaps. In addition to helping each institution identify strengths and gaps in its own curriculum, the project provided an unprecedented opportunity for both public health professionals and academics to build relationships, share best practices, and exchange resources.
