Social Justice and the Ecological Model of Health: The Foundation of a Multiple Specialty DNP Core Curriculum

Background
Browne and Tarlier (2008, p83) advise us that “a social justice perspective will be essential to sustaining long-term, socially responsive NP roles and achieving greater equity in health and healthcare”. With an eye toward the future structure of health care and the potential of advanced practice nurses to positively effect change at the population-level, a core curriculum revision was undertaken in a DNP multispecialty program.

Description
The aim of this work was to create a core curriculum grounded in the professional advocacy role and an ecological model of health. Relevant literature on social justice, advanced practice roles, health and policy frameworks, and teaching pedagogies guided the revision and implementation.

Lessons Learned
Early successes include better preparation of students for active engagement in meaningful social justice advocacy, practice, and systems-level leadership. Early outcomes data will be presented and include course and program evaluations, professional projects and advocacy behaviors. Challenges include ensuring effective learning and integration of concepts in the context of multispecialty courses and a politically-divisive policy climate.

Implications for Education
Early and frequent emphasis on the complex and dynamic drivers of health and the interplay between health status and public policies which directly, or indirectly, affect health, prepare students to integrate social justice knowledge and action into a framework for leadership and advocacy. The use of professional foundation documents, health policy frameworks and the ecological model of health can assist programs to effectively integrate social justice into the DNP curriculum and prepare students to recognize and address ‘health in all policies.’