Time for a change: women's health education in Canadian university schools of nursing

As a group, women are the major users of the health care system, both directly, in terms of their own health, and indirectly, as the custodians of their family's health. In the past 10 years, there has been a growing awareness of the particular health concerns of women. One of the results of this increased awareness has been the development of courses that address these concerns. Most have been offered through Women's Studies programs. Recently, a growing awareness of these issues has developed among nurses and nurse educators. However, as Saunders and Taylor (1985) point out, "Nurse educators have been slow to develop courses that address women's health issues" (p. 25). My purpose in conducting this study was to survey university schools of nursing in Canada to discover if topics relating to women's health are incorporated into the nursing education curricula. I found that nursing education curricula tend to present women's health issues in a traditional, medically defined manner, focusing on childbearing and reproductive issues. The important problems of women and poverty, the social construction of diseases, and the social context of women's health were addressed much less frequently.