Leverage pre-requisite courses to teach bachelor of science in nursing students about social determinants of health.

BACKGROUND: Nurses have frequent opportunities to address social determinants of health (SDOH) in practice. However, many nurses graduate without completing coursework in SDOH, and there remain barriers to incorporating SDOH content into nursing curricula. PURPOSE: We propose the revision of nursing pre-requisites to include substantive, introductory coursework on SDOH. METHOD: We explored the history and professional context surrounding nursing's current pre-requisite course expectations. We also performed an assessment of the credit hour requirements and pre-requisite course titles for the nation's 100 top-ranked nursing programs. FINDINGS: Our assessment revealed that the allocation of credit hour requirements for most programs leaves little room for SDOH-focused credits once nursing coursework starts; also, based on title analyses, foundational coursework on SDOH may be missing from most programs' pre-requisite listings. DISCUSSION: Nursing pre-requisites should include SDOH content for reasons including the limited availability of credit hours for SDOH-focused electives and the importance of students developing a strong foundation in SDOH before their nursing coursework begins.

Sexually active adolescent women: assessing family and peer relationships using event history calendars.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore family and peer relationships (including support and influence on risk behavior) among sexually active European American and African American adolescent girls in the context of risk behaviors documented on retrospective event history calendars (EHCs) and in interviews. The EHCs were completed by the adolescents prior to a clinic visit with a nurse practitioner at a school-based clinic in Southeast Michigan, and interviews were conducted after the visit. Constant comparative analysis of EHCs and interview data of 19 sexually active 15 to 19-year-old girls revealed that those with positive familial and peer support were less likely to report risk behaviors compared to those with poor family and peer relationships. School nurses and other providers working with adolescents to prevent risk behaviors could utilize the EHC to determine risks and develop education plans and interventions to reduce risk behaviors.