Social justice in health system; a neglected component of academic nursing education: a qualitative study

Abstract

Background In recent decades, increasing social and health inequalities all over the world has highlighted the importance of social justice as a core nursing value. Therefore, proper education of nursing students is necessary for preparing them to comply with social justice in health systems. This study is aimed to identify the main factors for teaching the concept of social justice in the nursing curriculum. Method This is a qualitative study, in which the conventional content analysis approach was employed to analyze a sample of 13 participants selected using purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect and analyze the data. Results Analysis of the interviews indicated that insufficient education content, incompetency of educators, and inappropriate education approaches made social justice a neglected component in the academic nursing education. These factors were the main sub-categories of the study and showed the negligence of social justice in academic nursing education. Conclusion Research findings revealed the weaknesses in teaching the concept of social justice in the nursing education. Accordingly, it is necessary to modify the content of nursing curriculum and education approaches in order to convey this core value. Since nursing educators act as role models for students, especially in practical and ethical areas, more attention should be paid to competency of nursing educators, specially training in the area of ethical ideology and social justice.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Inequities: A Photovoice Study With Nursing Students

“…As some authors recommend, as future health care professionals, they will have to promote critical thinking to identify social injustices in their communities (e.g., inequities on ethnic minorities) as they will have to protect them (Cuellar, 2021). Furthermore, insisting on and providing further education on the importance of empowering nurses in policy decision-making (e.g., proposing feasible and holistic actions recognizing and involving the role of different stakeholders) should be a responsibility for nurse educators (Habibzadeh et al, 2021).…”

“…Education in social determinants of health, social justice, and sociocultural competence should be an essential element integrated throughout the degree programs. These points are insufficiently taught in nursing programs (Alemany-Arrebola et al, 2021;Demirtas et al, 2021;Habibzadeh et al, 2021). Moreover, no research has been found in which students reflected about how the virus influences those at a higher risk of suffering its wider consequences (specifically in ethnic minorities and socioeconomically vulnerable groups).…”

“…Future nurses must recognize one's cultural values, beliefs, and practices about vulnerable populations and eradicate avoidable inequalities related to ethnicity, gender, race, or socioeconomic position, among others (International Council of Nurses, 2021). However, the literature suggests that aspects related to social determinants of health and social justice are insufficiently taught in undergraduate health and social education, specifically in nursing programs (Demirtas et al, 2021;Habibzadeh et al, 2021). This pandemic presents a learning opportunity to promote nursing students' critical thinking (Riegel et al, 2021) and help them become more aware of the consequences of social inequalities of health (World Health Organization, 2021b).…”

Poverty and health inequalities: Perceptions of social work students and nursing students

“…The nursing students' fatalistic explanations for poverty could explain why they tended to underscore the economic burden that people living in poverty caused rather than affirming the responsibility that policymakers had to end poverty. Moreover, it could be argued that the concept of social justice is insufficiently taught in undergraduate nursing education (Habibzadeh et al, 2021). The inclusion of the social determinants of health in accreditation standards for nursing programs should be considered, as Mahoney et al (2020) emphasised in their study.…”

Double jeopardy: The importance of nurturing culturally responsive perinatal mental healthcare

“…Nurse and midwifery educators also need to critically review their responsibilities and approaches for developing capacity of graduates in addressing key social justice issues and providing culturally responsive approaches to perinatal mental healthcare. Habibzadeh et al (2021) reports on the lack of attention paid to social justice in nursing and midwifery curriculum. Incorporating learning opportunities that explore cultural responsiveness of perinatal mental healthcare is one approach to integrating social justice principles into everyday learning and teaching strategies.…”