Diverse students collaborating to address social determinants of health using listening sessions

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.